Zincs

[All U Get]

Hi all,
Back in November I posted a thread when my boat was pulled and I was cleaning my prop. I was taking off the zincs this past weekend and thought a picture of the leftover metal was amusing. In the first pic the yellow arrows point to the shaft zincs, almost gone. The blue arrow was from the Spurs line cutter, almost gone. The red arrow points to the Maxi-prop zinc, most of the zinc was still there but the holding screws had totally eroded away. Hmmmm. The second picture shows where I flipped the zincs over and the third shows how close to losing the prop zinc I came.
I was ordering replacements online when I found this study on zinc erosion. http://www.zrd.com/faq/esdfaqmaxpropzinc.html
Has anyone tried this method? There is also an interesting take on engine zincs in that article and I thought this needs some comparrison study.
All U Get

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

I tried the nail polish trick one year with no difference observed compared with previous years in which the zinc on my MaxProp was gone after one season. I installed an isolation transformer the next year and the zincs, incl the MaxProp zinc showed almost new after the season.
The point being it depends on what is causing the corrosion which should be identified and fixed rather than masking the problem by trying to prolong the life of the anode(s).
I don't recall the details of your previous post and all the comments generated but I vaguely remember the consensus being to focus on the problem, not the band aide.

 

[All U Get]

Hi Don,
I totally agree with finding out if there is a problem. We've spent most of this season comparing notes on how the systems on our boat work so we can be more prepared if we decide to sail more than the six months we did this year. The only time the boat was on shore power was when it was in line to get hauled at the end of the season so there could be a bonding issue. At least now I have a base line for zinc consumption and will carry a few spares aboard.
Some year back I had replaced the shaft, prop, cutlass bearing, and strut on our other boat but I wasn't there for the launch. At the end of the season there was no zinc to be found when the boat was hauled. After that I made sure to have two on the shaft and I would tighted any that were not replaced by me. Strangely we never had any disappear in a season after that.