Zinc "fish" where to connect

[Seattle Scott]

Boat is in salt water and I see others in the marina with the zink fish wire clipped onto a shroud or chain plate. I am trying to protect the shaft/prop and strut and get more "life" out of the shaft zincs, so my zink is dropped off the stern and the wire is connected to the engine, which is connected to the transmission, which is connected to the shaft which is connected to the prop.Is this the right way to do this, or should the zinc wire terminate on the chainplate or somewhere else. This is not a lightening protection issue, just galvonic (sp) corrosion issue.

 

[RichH]

Connect to 'anything' that is well connected to

your bonding system. With everything 'bonded' the zinc can be immersed 'anywhere'. This does NOT included bonding systems that have corroded / high resistance connections, etc.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

direct connection

Most people appear to connect it off a shroud or chainplate as long as it/they are gounded, however, Ohm's Law would indicate that the closer to the prop/shaft with the fewest connections between, the better. Any poor or higher resistance connection will result in decreasing the efficacy of the overboard zinc so if it's practical, you might be best to connect it directly to the shaft (or any adjacent grounded metal like the engine) such that it is easily removed, if necessary in the case of a shaft connection, when you get underway.

 

[Buck2796]

I Agree w/ Don,,

but, it's often impractical or relatively inconvinent to attach the zinc fish wire directly to the shaft. It's fairly easy to check for continuity w/ a volt meter to make sure that a shroud (for example) is "connected" to the engine/shaft.Also, if you don't want to buy an expensive "zinc fish" at the boat store, check the trash at any boat yard. There are almost always large, partly used, zincs that have been taken off larger boats as part of hauling them out and discarded. They usually have holes in them and can easily have a wire attached and used as a "fish".

 

[Seattle Scott]

Not bonded

so terminating at engine seems right and the diver leaves the old shaft zincs in the cockpit and I have been scanvenging them and wiring them onto the hanging zinc.