I have excessive zinc anode replacements

[Sailmonkey]

The proper way to rest your underwater hardware is with a silver/silver chloride reference cell. A pencil zinc is just going to cause you a headache as you try to make sense of random voltages.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Kenomac]

We used the dive service "Scubaduba" when our Hunter 450 was in Wilmington and Long Beach Marina. They always took underwater photos of the zincs and provided us with he old ones to show any issues. We never experienced the replacement frequency you have.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Ron.

[fallingeggs]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

The proper way to rest your underwater hardware is with a silver/silver chloride reference cell.

Yes, that is what BoatZincs.com sells (and I purchased) for a pretty sum. Appears to work quite well for its intended use.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by fallingeggs

Yes, that is what BoatZincs.com sells (and I purchased) for a pretty sum. Appears to work quite well for its intended use.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

There are other reference cells available for purchase, but they're difficult to find, and not quite as nicely made.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[zeehag]

when i first arrived in barra de navidad my boat wa s using zincs every 2 to 3 months. ok so i had a GOOD 12 v electrician who had spent 30 years wiring shrimpers touch my electricals. i could not see his hands as he changed this and changed that and made my formosa an electrical haven, now able to go 1.5 YEARS between zincs in an allegedly hot marina. try it.
ps while i was in port of lost angels, my zincs on my boats lasted 3 to 5 months. i was in lighthouse marina. also newmarks, at a different time. aug, 1990-1995, aug, in pola.

[friscoron]

Thanks Zee Hag.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

I have been told by boat owners in virtually every one of the dozens of marinas I have worked in over the last 22 years that their marina is "hot." Usually this is not the case and is the result of the boat owner simply being in denial about the state of his own electrical system. Rapid anode depletion is almost always the result of an electrical issue aboard the boat in question.

I’ll bet Lunch this is correct, I know a “hot” marina is possible, but I have never experienced the phenomenon myself.
I just went through this myself, it appears that incorrect inverter wiring was my issue, although it could be anything that allows DC voltage to “leak” to ships ground or the water.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I’ll bet Lunch this is correct, I know a “hot” marina is possible, but I have never experienced the phenomenon myself.

I have earned my living installing anodes in many dozens of marinas over the last couple of decades and my experience is that the "hot marina" is largely a wive's tale and one that boat owners like to cite as the cause of their rapid anode depletion. In most situations, rapid anode depletion is caused by an issue aboard the boat in question.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

I have earned my living installing anodes in many dozens of marinas over the last couple of decades and my experience is that the "hot marina" is largely a wive's tale and one that boat owners like to cite as the cause of their rapid anode depletion. In most situations, rapid anode depletion is caused by an issue aboard the boat in question.

I don't know about the hot marina likelihood, but I have had a hot neighbor boat that caused me issues.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I don't know about the hot marina likelihood, but I have had a hot neighbor boat that caused me issues.

Yes, that can happen:

[Bean Counter]

I would have thought diving / swimming in a hot marina a bit chancy, doesn't take much stray current to kill a human in the water, see attached link that also explains how to deal with it
http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/maga...-explained.asp

[zeehag]

marinas can be hot butnot deadly. hot doesnot mean you gonna die swimming in it. enough electricity to change protons and electrons for changing metals is less than you can feel. you CAN feel electricity loosed from a bare wire in water, fresh or salt.
and yes i MEANT loosed, not lost.

[a64pilot]

You can very easily be killed in fresh water, it doesn’t take much.
However for some reason it’s very unlikely to happen in salt.
I don’t mind diving my boat to clean the bottom in salt water, I would be reluctant to do so in fresh

[fstbttms]

Since humans are essentially bags of saltwater, the potential difference between you and the surrounding saltwater in your marina is small, and therefore not particularly dangerous. However in freshwater, you (as a bag of saltwater) are the most conductive thing around and therefore much more likely to be shocked by any present electrical current.