Learn me electric motor submerged in salt water

So during Hurricane Matthew one of my boat lift motors was submerged in salt water for a little bit of time. Maybe an hour, but I'm not sure exactly how long it was under water. I want to know what if anything I should do to it before turning on the power. It has been out of the water since last Saturday, so it should be dried out at this point. I could grease the gears and bearings before, but what about the actual motor?

Should I rinse the motor with fresh water and let it dry. What about spraying it with WD40?

I would suggest you submerse it in clean hot unsalted water then rinse thoroughly, blow out with compressed air, and let it dry for a bit. Lube the bearings while you wait. Fire it up.

Yes, drown it in fresh water.

Next I would drown it in this.

Link. Not cheap, but it's the best water displacer/corrosion inhibiter I've every found for electrical and electronic stuff.

If it's been a couple of days, it may already be too late. Saltwater salvage needs to happen immediately.

Maybe relevant to your issue- Buddy of mine dropped his Android in the Salton Sea while hunting. Left it in a bag of rice overnight, powered it up and the screen was acting funny and not quite working properly. He then disassembled it to find lots of salt residue on the circuit board. So he took it over to the sink and washed and scrubbed it in clean water and placed it back in the bag of rice. This was at least 6 months ago and he still uses the working phone.

So maybe you'll need to run it through a rinse cycle

Edit-looks like many others suggested the same thing while I was typing