Motor bag

[drb9]

I posted about this a few years ago, but four years of being submerged finally was too much for my old dry bag. So, I wanted to share pictures of what I do to keep bay and barnacle growth off my outboard, which sits in the water all season. I bought a Sealline Boundary 70L dry bag (slightly used, from Ebay). I cut a hula hoop to the diameter of the bag, wrapped the top of the bag over the hula hoop, and held it in place with a bunch of large binder clips. I put a few stones in the bottom to help it drop down off the motor. And, I attached floating line (an old ski tow rope), to help me retrieve it when I need it.

To put it on, I simply move the bag to about where the outboard is, and toss the tow rope lines in the water. From the boat, I reach down on either side of the motor and pull the floating lines into the boat. I then position the bag under the motor and raise it, pulling the top of the bag up into the lazarette well. I then pump the water in the bag out (I stop pumping when the water level in the bag starts to go down.) I refill the bag with fresh water from the dock hose. I then tie the two tow rope pieces above the motor. Oh, and I run the engine briefly to do a fresh-water flush.

To take the bag off, I simply untie the ropes, and the bag drops down.

Anyway, this system works for me. The outdrive anti-fouling paint never worked very well, and I always had lots of soft and hard growth.

(I think the bag might be a little too tall, so I may end up wrapping more over, so I have less water to pump out.)

Darin

[SAIL1]

bag looks brand new...no tell-tale signs of any barnacles...how do you remove the barnacles from the bag?

[mgphl52]

What a clever idea! My solution was to sell the way overpowered 9.9 and buy a very light weight6 hp 4-stroke and park it on the cabin sole. It would only be mounted when absolutely necessary... Sailing in and out of her slip at the marina was a great way to begin and end a sail.

[drb9]

bag looks brand new...no tell-tale signs of any barnacles...how do you remove the barnacles from the bag?

This is my new bag. The old one was coated in barnacles after a year and I never tried to remove them. I remember putting it in a garbage bag to take home for the winter and hearing what I thought was running water on the ride home. It turned out to be barnacles, sticking their tongues out and back in.

[SAIL1]

I would guess that trying to remove the barnacles from the bag would cause alot of damage to the bag...I have used a 5-gal bucket in a similar setup for over 10yrs and have excellent results...hacking off the barnacles from the bucket is easy...

[mgphl52]

What about doing a 'bag-in-a-bag'... putting a cheap lawn trash bag on the outside of the dry bag. When too nasty, toss and replace.