Among those various winter projects we never seem to get to, taking a look at all the places where you have stainless screws going into aluminum is a good idea. As you know, stainless and aluminum are dis-similar enough that when you add a bit of water, it sets up a galvanic action that starts to eat the aluminum. Make the water salty and the process goes even faster. Since the current market means we might all be keeping our boats a bit longer than usual, a little preventative maintenance might be good.
About a year ago, I was talking to a builder of aluminum boats and asked what they did about the galvanic corrosion problem. I was told that they use a zinc paste or spray on all of the screws before they install them. The zinc serves as a sacrificial anode. You can buy the spray as a product named ECK. It is primarily sold to the builders of aluminum truck trailers, which have a similar problem from rain and salted roads. Here's a link:
http://www.vannay.com/eck.html
I was talking to the guy that bought my Stamas and he told me that a gust of wind tore one of the bimini mounts loose. He said the threads were corroded away. Yeah, I can understand that. The screws on the top get a constant bath of salt water and they are the toughest to rinse. Areas where things are clamped together make it even worse. The water gets in there and there's just no good way to rinse it out. The only fix is to keep it from getting in there in the first place.
So, take a look around your boat and see what might need to be bedded and sealed before it lets go. This might look like overkill, but here's a bimini mount I did today. Oh, that's 4200. I just about don't use 5200 unless I never, ever plan to take it apart. 4200 is strong enough.
Corrosion where stainless meets aluminum
Linear Mode
