A quick rinse is the ticket

Take care of wheels, tackle before ride home

Fishermen who fish in brackish or saltwater either know the evils of salt or are due for a rather rude and possibly expensive awakening.

Whether carried by air or water, salt is a corrosive that will cause deterioration in all metals and many other materials. Some metals, including stainless steel and anodized aluminum, hold up better than others, but none are totally impervious to the caustic qualities of salt resting on metal. If you’re going to use something around saltwater, you better have something in mind to clean and remove the salt and help control the corrosion.

The best protection against salt is to remove it as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, when you are talking about using things in a salt-laden environment, quickly is a relative term. There are some treatments that do help, such as Corrosion Block, and washing with salt-inhibiting products, such as Salt-X, but even they wear out.

One of the things that has been proven time and time again to help offset the destructive qualities of salt is good old freshwater. Liberal quantities are sometimes all you need to break salt free from surfaces and wash it away so it can’t begin to deteriorate them. Even when you can’t use liberal quantities of fresh water, a well-directed and well-intentioned rinse goes a long way toward helping prevent corrosion caused by salt.

I used to think that rinsing quickly was getting out the hose as soon as I got home. That is sometimes the best you can do, but I was shown there is a way to get a little head start.

Galvanic corrosion is one of the worst kinds. At the risk of sounding overly technical, this is the corrosion that occurs when two dissimilar metals are submerged in an electrolyte. A chemical reaction occurs because the dissimilar properties of the metals are connected by the electrolyte and an ever-so-slight electrical current is generated. When this happens, the less-resistant of the metals begins to deteriorate and corrode. In our world, this happens frequently. Saltwater is the electrolyte, and the metals include aluminum, galvanized steel, copper, brass, bronze, monel, zinc and several grades of stainless steel.

The galvanic corrosion we are most familiar with is the sacrificial zincs we use on outboards, Inboard-outboard lower units, rudders and drive shafts. The zincs are intentionally manufactured to be the less-resistant of the metals and deteriorate to protect the metals used for the parts. When a zinc part wears out, it can be replaced, and the protection on the part continues.

One of the perks of writing this column is getting to fish and hunt with some really top-notch people and learn some of their tactics and secrets for catching fish or finding game. Sometimes there are prevention and maintenance tips, too, and this is a good one, especially for fishermen who travel long distances and launch at remote ramps.

C.A. Richardson is the host of Flats Class TV, which airs weekly on the Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network and Sun Sports Channel. When not filming, Richardson is a guide in the St. Petersburg, Fla., area, so his boat, trailer and fishing equipment get a real workout. I met him a double handful of years back and have remained friends and been fortunate enough to fish with him in his home waters. We caught some nice fish, but it is something he does daily to fight galvanic corrosion that caught my attention.

This is so simple, but incredibly effective. Richardson carries a small garden sprayer in his truck that is filled with water. When he launches at a remote ramp, he pulls the trailer out, lightly pumps up the sprayer and rinses the wheels and bolts on his trailer. He repeats this when he pulls the boat out so the salt doesn’t have time to sit and begin the corrosion process on the drive home.

This is as simple and effective as I have seen. I like that the dissimilar metals — aluminum rims and galvanized or stainless steel lug bolts and nuts — don’t get to sit in the sun all day while fishing, and the salt can’t dry in place and start corrosion. It is also good that it is rinsed again before heading home. This would be particularly effective for those folks who tow their boats back to Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh and other similar distances immediately after fishing at the coast. If I’m not close to home, I like to go through a car wash before making much of a drive when towing the boat, but sometimes that just isn’t possible.

I have expanded Richardson’s idea to include giving my rods and reels a quick rinse too. The same principle applies here, as aluminum and stainless steel collect salt from spray and water slinging off the line as you cast and retrieve.

I add just a little Turtle Wax Zip Wash to my water. I don’t want enough soap that it suds up, but I believe the combination of soap and wax in the Zip Wash helps free up the salt and allows it to rinse off, while leaving a coating that helps prevent future build up. A stronger mixture of this is what I use to wash my boat and equipment at home or at a car wash. I have been using this for years, and it has worked well for me.

While getting all the salt off is what is wanted, don’t use pressure on your reels. Pressure may work fine for rinsing the trailer — although I back it off when rinsing the bearing covers — but pressure can force salt or dirt past the seals and into your reels. They should be rinsed lightly and washed with a mitt, rag or sponge.

Hopefully, this will strike a chord with you as it did with me. It will help prevent chalking and other corrosion around the bolts on your trailer, especially if you have a set of good looking aluminum rims. Another benefit is it helps keep the lug bolts from rusting, so if you have to change a tire, it is easier. It also helps keep your trailer looking better if you should decide to sell it. Best of all, it only takes a few minutes to do all this, and it can be done anywhere.

Spraying your reels before heading home helps keep any salt spray from setting up on them and causing future problems. This really is a situation where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and I hope you never have to find out why.