Galveston, Texas · Marine & equipment lubrication

AMSOIL for Galveston boats and equipment.

Galveston Bay boats live in brackish, silty water and run hard across a shallow, chop-heavy bay. Bay boats and center consoles here see constant salt spray, and trailer rigs get rinsed and re-submerged several times a week during the spring trout and redfish runs.

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What we see in Galveston

The three problems worth planning around.

Salt and silt in the lower unit after shallow-water running

Trailer bearings submerged repeatedly on the same trip

Short-run outboards that never fully reach operating temperature

Typical equipment here

Bay boats, center consoles, trailer rigs and jack plates

Common questions

Storage and layup, which is where most damage happens.

Should I change my boat oil before or after winter storage?

Change it before storage, not after. Used oil holds acids, fuel dilution and moisture, and leaving that mixture sitting against bearings and cylinder walls for months is where a great deal of off-season corrosion damage happens. Draining it and refilling with fresh oil before layup means the engine sits with clean oil and a full additive package. On the Gulf Coast this matters more than in cold climates, because our layup periods coincide with high humidity rather than freezing dry air.

My boat sits on a lift for months at a time. What is that doing to it?

Extended idle time in Gulf humidity does more damage to most engines than running them does. Each temperature swing cycles humid air through the crankcase and fuel system, condensing moisture that pools in low spots, and without running hours to burn it off, that moisture stays. The engines we see with the worst internal condition are almost never the high-hour ones — they are the low-hour boats that sat. If a boat is going to sit, the two highest-value interventions are fresh oil going into storage and fuel treatment to keep ethanol from separating.

All marine questions

Galveston customers

Tell us what you run and where it sits.

Engine make and model, roughly how many hours a season, and whether it is trailered, slip-kept or on a lift. That is enough to give you a specific answer instead of a catalog page.