How Long?

Our tritoon sits slipped on the river.

It will have zebra mussels and everything else on it as far as river AIS goes.

I will be trailering it to the Hayward area for a week long extended family vacation in mid July.

How long should it be out of the water and on a trailer before it’s “safe” to put into a lake without transferring things? My plan was to get it out and hit it with our giant gas powered, hot water pressure washer. It will get water right to the point of boiling. Then, I would acid wash it (I do once every summer anyways) and rinse it…let it sit, and hopefully call it good. If it is out of the water for 5 days, is that long enough to kill anything on it?

That seems pretty legit. Dont forget to flush your outboard and live well pumps.

MN DNR-Whether or not a lake is listed as infested, Minnesota law requires water recreationists to:

Clean watercraft of all aquatic plants and prohibited invasive species.
Drain all water by removing drain plugs and keeping them out during transport.
Dispose of unwanted bait in the trash.
Dry docks, lifts, swim rafts and other equipment for at least 21 days before placing equipment into another water body.

i fish a lake thats got a big sign about decontamation……bla bla. thats what the sign says 5 days….and after you do what you said.you should be good to go i would think!!

There are voluntary decontamination stations throughout MN that you can use to decontaminate the boat ahead of time. I think they just use pretty much what your using though. Probably not even as good since you plan on an acid wash.

They say zms can live for 3 weeks, but I don’t think that is possible in hot weather. I would feel pretty comfortable launching after a thorough hot water rinse and then parking on a hot driveway. DNR site says that 140 degree water kills the adult mussels in 10 seconds contact time.

I think you have a good plan. I second what suzuki said about flushing your motor and livewell. Just flick the livewell pumps on and hold a hose to them for a couple of mins. That should flush anything out!

No livewells on the tritoon, so should be good to go there. I’ll flush out the motor well too – thanks for the reminders.

I’d pull it for even longer, but the wife has some college friends coming to visit the week prior who I am sure will want to use it on the river. Ultimately if I pull it out then I should be able to get 6 days, maybe 7 out of the water if I don’t launch it until the morning after we arrive up North in addition to all the other steps.

I’ve always been curious to how long wet carpeted bunks would remain contaminated. One could imagine the area trapped between the boat and bunk to remain wet for sometime, perhaps why they recommend 21 days.

I would think the hot water wash would be good enough.

Isn’t there any info from the DNR whether it be MN or WI to answer that Q?
Seems a question that many may have.