1. Wash down boat using normal procedure.

2. Allow boat to dry with covers open.

3. Shake aerosol two or three times.

4. Apply a thing film of TC-11 to metal parts.

5. At three month intervals, wash down boat and re-apply TC-11.

6. Once a year, clean boat interior with a surface celaner.

7. Allow boat to dry. If the paint needs any work, the metal parts are dirt free, oil free, and corrosion free at this point.

8. Re-apply TC-11 film.

Long Directions

TC-11™ is the best available product for the long-term protection of "high dollar" parts such as throttle and choke cables, carburetors, the engine and exhaust system externals, the pump, steering components, latches, hinges, and fittings.

TC-11™ was developed expressly for Personal Water Craft. Because this type of boat is designed and built so that salt water enters the engine compartment on a regular basis, corrosion can be more of a problem on this type of boat than on other types.

In addition, many owners make the mistake of closing up the boat when they store it. The boats are so well sealed that the water is trapped in the hull and the level of corrosion is almost unbelievable.

This is a guideline for the long-term protection of your PWC. PWC maintenance starts before the boat is completely finished and is an important part of owning a boat. Salt water is a very aggressive corrosive environment, and unless an owner is diligent, the cost of repairs will take all the fun out of owning a boat.

TC-11™ requires less than 2% of the time required to "clean up" a boat and represents less than 2% of the cost of the fuel and oil required to operate the boat. In return, you will enjoy increased reliability, significantly reduced repair costs, and the satisfaction of an engine compartment that looks brand new – permanently!

Short Directions

1. Wash down PWC using your normal procedure.

2. Allow boat to dry.

3. Apply a thin film of TC-11 to all metal parts on the boat.

4. After use or at three month intervals, wash down boat and re-apply a thin film of TC-11.

5.Once a year, clean metal surfaces with a mild surface cleaner, allow boat to dry, and re-apply TC-11 film.

Long Directions  

Step One: Up, Out, and Under

PWC are not well suited for storage in the water. Water storage causes big problems, including leaks, marine growth, and corrosion. Make sure your PWC is stored on a trailer.

The best way to store a PWC is in a garage. As a minimum, cover the boat with a high quality cover. It is important to have a cover that "breathes". This means that the spaces between the threads are small enough to keep out water droplets and large enough to let water vapor pass through the material. Also, the cover protects your boat from sunlight, which over an extended period is highly destructive to soft parts such as rubber and plastic. Finally, the cover protects your boat from dirt. It is easy to underestimate the corrosive effects of dirt. A combination of dirt and water will eventually lead to serious corrosion.

Store your boat in a nose-up position with the hull drain plugs open. This allows for water drainage through the hull drain plugs. If the boat is stored nose down, water will accumulate on the deck area, which won’t really hurt the boat but it can lead to stains from mold and mildew. In the case of an open hull, a nose down attitude can result in so much water in the boat that the hull can end up with structural problems.

If you use a single hose, the boat engine should be rinsed with a slight nose down attitude. If the boat is nose-up, the engine rinse water flows straight out the back of the pump and does not rinse the pump assembly. If the boat is nose-down, the rinse water flows past the prop and out through the intake grate.

The minimum flush time is ten minutes, fifteen minutes is better.

First, connect the water hose line to your boats flush fitting. If your boat doesn’t have one, get one from you dealer. Make sure that the hose is secured to another line with a tie wrap. You don’t want it bouncing around and causing problems.

Never turn the hose on with the engine off. In this situation, water can travel down the head pipe and into the exhaust manifold. If the piston happens to be near bottom dead center, the water will flow right on into the cylinder. When you turn the starter, the water volume is larger than the volume of the combustion chamber at top dead center. This can result in a broken piston or a bent connecting rod.

Start your engine, and let it idle. If a boat engine is operated for more than 20 seconds without the water on, you can cause major damage to the engine from overheating.

Once the engine is on, turn on the hose. Make sure you have a solid stream of water coming out of the bypass fitting on the side of the hull. There are many ways to clog a cooling system, and inadequate rinsing is definitely one of them.

Another way is to run the boat with the intake grate too close to the bottom. The intake grate is like an underwater vacuum cleaner, and it will pull sand, dirt, and rocks off of the bottom for a distance of almost two feet. The sand is forced into the cooling line, and it settles out of the cooling water flow in the engine’s internal cooling passages. This is a slow process that leads to cumulative damage.

Another way to clog the cooling system is to get a rock stuck in the water supply line. If the rock is a little bigger than a pea, it can be forced into the cooling line and cause almost complete blockage. This type of blockage can occur very suddenly. Usually you can tell it has happened because the thermal sensor will limit the engine speed to idle.

After the engine has been rinsed for fifteen minutes, turn off the water. Blip the throttle eight to ten times to blow all of the water out of the cooling system and exhaust system. Remember the 20 second rule: don’t run the engine for more than 20 seconds once the water supply has been shut off.

Disconnect the hose and make sure the rinse -fitting cap is re-attached. Lots of boats have flooded because the owner didn’t re-attach the rinse-fitting cap. Some boats have check valves to prevent this problem. On some boats, the check valve is bypassed if the rinse hose fitting is left on.

Salt-Away is an excellent product that should be used in conjunction with TC-11™. Salt-Away addresses corrosion problems in internal engine cooling passages and exhaust component water jackets. Some owners get carried away and rinse the boat engine with Salt-Away every time they use it. This is not a bad practice, but it really isn’t necessary. Salt-Away can be used every three months and achieve nearly the same results. Always use Salt-Away before the boat is going to be laid-up for the winter.

The last, and most important, step in rinsing the engine takes place about 45 minutes later. This one isn’t in the factory manual, but it should be!

After the engine has completely cooled, start up the engine and blip the throttle a few times. If water comes out of the exhaust, you haven’t properly dried the engine internal passages. Blip the throttle five or six times, and let the engine cool down again. Repeat this process until no water comes out of the exhaust when you start up the boat and blip the throttle.

I can’t overemphasize how important this step is. If any water at all remains in the cooling lines, block, exhaust system cooling jackets, or muffler; you create a condensing environment on the internal wetted surfaces of the engine. This means that water droplets will condense on the internal passages and remain there until the next time the boat is used. Even if the droplets evaporate, the damage is significant. The total dissolved solids, or salinity, of the water droplets will get very high as the water droplet evaporates.

Engine fogging, while a good practice, is not a substitute for proper drying of the internal water passages. Engine foggers are sometimes used more than they should be. They are designed to be used before the boat is laid up for storage. The "fog" is deposited on the engine and evaporates very slowly, which means that the cylinder walls will have a film of oil on them to prevent corrosion. For "normal" use – once per month – the two-stroke oil in the gasoline provides a sufficient level of protection and engine fogging isn’t really necessary.

By spending a few dollars for a hose splitter and an extra hose, the wash-down can be integrated with the engine rinse. While you at the hardware store, get a quality hose nozzle. This is real time saver, since the time required to wash-down the boat, the trailer, wet suits, life jackets, and all the rest of the gear is usually about the same time required to rinse out the engine internal passages. Also, it is a good practice to wash down the pump assembly for a good 30 seconds with a solid stream of water – more on this later.

The first priority is to rinse the engine compartment. Use the spray to rinse every surface of the engine compartment. If the original air inlet system is in place, it is almost impossible to spray water into the engine intake. Aftermarket air filters can be a major source of water infiltration, even if the engine is off. If you have truncated cone style air filters (which are an excellent design since they function as velocity stacks), spring for a couple of bucks and buy sleeves for the air filters. The sleeves do not affect the flow of air through the filter, but they do keep water droplets (or spray) from entering the air filters.

Be sure to rinse the carburetors, exhaust system, engine block, motor mounts, and power-take-off assembly. If the boat hull is divided into separate compartments, be sure to rinse each one thoroughly. Don’t worry about the electrical system – the designers do a great job of making them waterproof.

The boat should have a slight nose-high attitude while it is being rinsed. Otherwise, the rinse water will accumulate in the hull.

Rinsing works by dilution, so don’t flood the boat hull thinking you are doing a good job of rinsing the boat. Break the rinse process up into several steps. This way, each time you send a sheet of water down the hull you are significantly increasing the dilution ratio.

Make sure to rinse the entire steering assembly. This includes any trim system cables and fittings you might have.

The pump assembly rinse is very important, especially if you are rinsing the boat with a nose up attitude. In this case, the only rinse water for the prop, rear bearing, and jet intake is the water that you spray into the pump assembly with a hose. Thirty seconds with a solid stream of water is a good idea.

Make sure to leave the hull drain plugs open on the trip home. This allows the residual water to drain out, particularly when going uphill.

Never cut a corner and leave the rear straps off. The straps limit the bounce height of the boat. Its not going over the bump that overstresses the trailer and boat; it is the uncontrolled bounce. The G forces can get a lot higher than you might think if the boat is unrestrained.

It’s a great idea to fill up the gas tank and oil tank on the way home. This way the boat is ready to go for the next trip, and you won’t forget a critical item like TCW-3 oil. Also, it’s a good idea to inspect the trailer, hitch, and straps before and after every trip.

Before you store your boat, make sure that the boat dries out completely. This is best accomplished by storing the boat in a garage and letting the boat sit for a few hours with all of the covers open or off. An alternative is to let the boat sit in the sun for an hour or two. You can get carried away and sponge out the bottom of the bilge, but this is time consuming and isn’t necessary as long as the rinse water was diluted properly and the bilge water volume is limited to a few ounces.

In any event, once the boat has dried completely, it is time for the most important step of all: putting on the TC-11™. Spray a coat of TC-11 on all of the metal parts. There is no harm in applying TC-11 to plastic and rubber parts, but they don't really need any protection. The idea is to coat all of the metal parts with a thin film of TC-11. 

One nice thing about the aerosol is that is sprays upside down. This means that you can apply TC-11 to hard to get to parts that require an up angle for the spray pattern.

You want the engine compartment to look as if you just applied a coat of clear paint. If you see areas that are not shiny, you haven’t put enough on. If you see drips, sags, or puddles, you are putting on too much.

TC-11 is quite mobile when it is first applied. This means that it will work its way between every moving part on your boat – perfect lubrication! TC-11 also works its way into threads, and the spaced between different components. This is an extremely useful aspect of TC-11, since it prevents frozen fittings and frozen assemblies. TC-11 has significant penetrating capabilities, and this lasts for about a week after application.

TC-11 definitely frees frozen mechanisms. If the first application does not work, go back at a later date and re-apply an additional coat of TC-11. The interval is based upon how bad the corrosion is and how far the TC-11 has to penetrate to reach all of the rust. Once TC-11 penetrates into the rusted area, the mechanism will stay lubricated for months.

That’s it! You just took an extra thirty seconds and spent less than a dollar, and your boat is now protected until the next time you use it. In addition, and during the next time you use it!

Close the engine cover, but do not secure the latches. If you boat has separate compartments, do not secure any of the latches. If the fire extinguisher is in a separate compartment, leave it slightly open.

Once the cover is re-attached, you are ready for your next trip. You should be fueled up, the oil tank is full, and you are ready for another day of fun.

One of the best things about TC-11 is that it doesn’t come off with a water rinse, but it does come off with mild cleaners. This means that you can wash down your boat and not worry about removing the film of TC-11 on protected parts. On the other hand, if you want to focus entirely on the appearance of a the boat (and ignore protection and lubrication) you can easily remove the TC-11 film with a cleaner such as Simple Green, Meguiar’s Extras, or citrus based products.

When you remove the TC-11 film, the boat really does look the same as the day it was purchased – if you used TC-11 from the time that it was new. This is the most amazing characteristic of TC-11. We strongly recommend that you re-apply a film of TC-11 immediately after cleaning, because corrosion will start to take place as soon as you remove the TC-11 film.

"Stickiness"

One common characteristic of effective film treatments is that the are "sticky". This means that they tend to accumulate dirt. This is not a problem in a marine environment, since marine environments are dust free (that’s why your engine doesn’t have an air filter).

During storage, this can be a problem if the boats are stored in a dusty environment. The dust is a really only a nuisance, and it can easily be removed with a spray nozzle on a garden hose.

TC-11 is compatible with the paints, plastics, and rubbers used to build heavy construction equipment. We have tested TC-11 for compatibility with latex, Nitrile, HDPE, neoprene, silicone, Buna-N, acrylic, polyester, PVC, nylon, Viton, epoxy, polystyrene, ABS, linoleum, Formica, varnish, and other plastics, paints, and rubbers without any indications of incompatibility.

TC-11 will not magically remove existing corrosion. TC-11 is oriented towards preventing the corrosion in the first place. If corrosion has started, it is very difficult to remove. TC-11 will arrest the corrosion, which means that no further corrosion will occur. This provides ample time to properly clean, prime, and paint corroded areas.

TC-11 is recommended for use with electrical equipment, but it is not recommended for use with electronic equipment. TC-11 is compatible with the materials used to assemble printed circuits, but the TC-11 film can interfere with the heat dissipation characteristics of the discrete components.

TC-11 is a non-conductor. It is not recommended for use on electrical equipment with voltage potentials greater than 450 V.

One area of PWC corrosion that cannot be addressed with any product, including TC-11™, is the impeller housing. I used to think that Yamaha’s were the only PWCs that suffered from impeller housing corrosion. That’s until one of my tow-in buddies mentioned that his Sea-Doo had torn the flexible coupling apart when the prop seized up from impeller housing corrosion. And this was with a plastic liner!

Yamaha impeller housings rust out every two years, no matter what you do. The housing develops bumps about 40 thousandths high where water has worked its way between the aluminum case and the stainless steel liner. Other boats are more forgiving, but they suffer from the same problem.

If you hear more than the normal light tingling noise from the prop bouncing off the wall of the impeller housing it is time to start thinking about replacing the impeller housing. If your prop sounds a bit like a coffee grinder, it is time to replace the impeller housing. If the prop shaft or through hull bearing is warm to the touch, do not operate the boat until the impeller housing has been replaced.

If you let the impeller housing corrosion go too far, you will ruin the prop. If you can see more than a sliver of daylight (about 30 thousandths) around the prop when you put in the new liner you should replace the prop if you are looking for top performance. The amount of power that "leaks" through the annular gap is simply amazing..

If you have an exotic impeller housing material such as a composite housing you will not have this problem.

Boat owners are sometimes tempted to re-fuel their boats on the open water. This is an invitation to disaster. The gas cap is located relatively close to the waterline. Unless you are extremely careful, it is not uncommon for a wave to break over the nose of the boat during the re-fueling process. If even the tiniest amount of water gets into the fuel tank, you have set the stage for a real disaster.

Usually it is a slow motion disaster. You can go days, weeks, and even months before the problem shows up. What happens is that you get a bubble of water in the bottom of the fuel tank? One day when you switch from the main fuel pickup to the reserve fuel pickup, the blob of water gets sucked into the fuel distribution system. It is very common for the engine to stop dead when the water gets to the carburetor. If you are using the PWC to surf or to tow-in, it is not uncommon for the boat to get blasted by the white water, and the boat usually gets completely flooded..

The initial problem of the boat stopping dead in the water is fairly minor in comparison to what follows: carburetor destruction. The carburetor internals are steel, brass, and aluminum. When these metals to come into contact with one another with water (a conductor), you generate a serious galvanic corrosion problem. The situation gets worse as the water evaporates and the Total Dissolved Solids concentration increases. The bottom of the float bowl and the metering jets are the hardest hit items. Unless you have ample time and are mechanically inclined, this requires that the carburetors be replaced.

When the gasoline in a two-stroke carburetor evaporates, it leaves behind a film of two-stroke oil, which is effective at controlling internal corrosion until the next time the carburetor is used. The gasoline itself is a non-conductor, so internal corrosion problems are usually not to big a problem unless the boat is laid up for a long time. If the boat is to be out of operation for more than a month, it is a good idea to use an engine-fogging product to protect the internal surfaces of the engine.

Laying a boat up for winter is one of the most important aspects of having a trouble free boat.

Make absolutely sure that no water remains in any of the wet internal passages, including the muffler.

The first problem is gasoline. As gasoline decomposes, it turns into varnish. If you let an untreated tank of gasoline sit for the entire winter, you may end up with varnish deposits in the tank, fuel lines, and carburetor. The most practical approach is to add a fuel stabilizer designed expressly for this application.

Remove the spark plugs. Spray a small amount of TC-11™ into the spark plug holes. Turn the engine over a few times with the starter, but don’t get too carried away and blow all of the TC-11™ out of the engine with the starter. Replace the spark plugs, remembering to turn a plug with a used gasket 1/16^th of a turn after you feel stiff resistance.

The battery should be disconnected. This makes it easy to remove the battery to for storage and to check the electrolyte levels every three months. Battery tenders are great.

Apply an extra coat of TC-11™ to all of the metal components of the PWC. This will insure that the protection lasts an entire six months. Be sure to cover all of the components of the engine, exhaust, steering, pump assembly. It is also a good idea to treat the trailer wheel lug nuts, the trailer hitch, the trailer third wheel assembly, and your trailer ball with TC-11™.

When you put your boat cover on, you are pretty much set until next year’s season.

When summer finally returns and it is time to get out there and ride, there are several steps you should follow to avoid problems.

First, check the charge level of your battery. Does the battery hold a charge? If there is any question, replace the battery. Battery failures are the worst kind of failures.

Gel type batteries are the best bet for PWC. Stock batteries are really motorcycle batteries, and they often fail catastrophically when a plate fractures. This kind of failure gives you no warning whatsoever, and it is a common failure mode.

Gel batteries are much more durable, since the jell is an effective shock absorber. In addition, problems with electrolyte levels and sulfuric acid concentrations are eliminated.

Remove those spark plugs. This time. use an engine fogger to coat the cylinder walls with a light coat of oil or pour some TCW-3 into the spark plug hole. Don’t get carried away and pour a bunch of oil in your spark plug hole thinking, "If a little is good, a lot is great!" You will just blow oil all over the place and make a mess.

It’s a good idea to see if the engine turns over before you hit it with the starter. If your rings have frozen (very unlikely) or corrosion in your impeller housing has locked the prop (more than likely) you can avoid some major problems by taking your time to sort the problem out before you turn the engine over.

Once the engine turns over freely, run the starter for about ten seconds with the plugs out. The discharge from the spark plug hole should change from droplets to a fine mist. Insert the old plugs loosely and turn over the starter for five seconds. A fine mist of oil should blow out from the plug threads.

One more note of warning: starter motors are normal motors that have been "over-wound". This means that they can only be used for a short period of time without overheating. This works fine as long as the engine starts easily. Starters get burned out when an owner has a compression, fuel, or ignition problem. The owner grinds away with the starter, even though the engine has clearly demonstrated that it will start without some sort of fix. If you burn out a starter motor it is not covered by the warranty. And it isn't cheap. And starters have a nasty habit of "welding" themselves to the engine block with corrosion. 

Now put in a new set of plugs. Start the engine carefully. Don’t blip the throttle. Just crack the throttle a few times to put some revs on the engine.

You are ready for a new season!

As you can see, in spite of the small amount of time and money involved, TC-11™ plays a critical role in controlling PWC corrosion. To put the cost of TC-11™ into perspective, it represents about 2% of the cost of a full tank of gas and oil. This is a very small price to pay for the increased reliability and reduced repair costs associated with a corrosion free boat.