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Wedge Corrosion???? Zinc??


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My 04' Wedge is really corroding. We sand it down and paint it every season for the past two years. But there are little white suffates all over it from electrical corrosion.

The boat sits in a very clean freshwater lake 4 months of year.

I am thinking of adding a zinc anode to help you. In fact I bought a tearshape one from west marine today. I am just afraid to drill into it and I am not sure if it will disrupt the water dynamics much. http://www.ritzcamera.com/graphics/product...9/327250239.jpg

It has to be connected directly to the metal in the wedge to work properly.

Any ideas? Anyone else have this problem>?

thanks

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I've put an zinc anode on mounting plate and a drive shaft anode on one of the locking arms of the foil, this helped a little along with having it powered coated. One of the guys down the lake from me took his complete wedge off and had it e-coated and it looks great after 3 years.

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I've put an zinc anode on mounting plate and a drive shaft anode on one of the locking arms of the foil, this helped a little along with having it powered coated. One of the guys down the lake from me took his complete wedge off and had it e-coated and it looks great after 3 years.

What is e-coated (epoxy?)

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I have the same problem and have not come up with a solution yet. I give the wedge a good scrubbing a few times a season in the water. More thourough cleaning and inspection next Sunday when she comes out for the season. Suggestions would be usefule from those with any!

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I have a "v" wedge laying around my shop that has had all of the paint cleaned off, not peeled and some bits heren and there, totally cleaned off, just from being in the water. didn't realize this was happening elsewhere.

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I've had the same issue, and its been really bad. Our boat sits in the water about 5 months a year, in a very clean lake. Last year it corroded really really badly, which was the first summer I owned it, and the first summer it sat in the water. I did alot of research, and pretty much narrowed it down to electrolysis (spelling?) which is electrical corrosion. It could be coming from EITHER the boat electrical system OR possibly from land electrical systems such as: dock power, house grounding issue, or possibly the underground line going to the dock house.

Zinc was recomended to me, similar to what you are looking at, but someone also mentioned that disconnecting the boats electrial system from the batteries might help isolate what is causing the problem (either the boat electrial system or the land based). This summer I turned off the boat circuit breaker every time we werent going to use the boat for more than a day. Its hard to tell since the corrosion was so bad at the begining of this year, but I think doing that significantly slowed the corosion, leading me to believe that its got somehting to do with the boat's electrial system. BUT, I have no obvious slow drains on the battery - I used a meter to check most of the electrial components, and before I started to disconnnect the battery on a regular basis the boat could sit for several weeks and start right up with out a dead battery.

Starting a thread asking about zinc was on my to-do list, but you beat me to it! I am very interested in what people have to recomend.

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That is a good idea to get it powercoated. I just might to that. But you would not be able to powdercoat the flat that fits to the transom. The tolerances are too tight and the wedge wouldn't go up and down anymore. But just the v plate wedge would work. I was thinking of adding the zinc to the swim platform plate but it sounds like that won;t work. It has to be on the metal it is protecting. And I am afraid to disrupt the waterflow by attaching it to the wedge itself.

I don't think leaving the boat electrical has anything to do with it. Nor the ground power. We don't have any shore-power and we always disconnect the battery with a perko switch.

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I put a round zinc directly on my wedge plate (I got this recommendation directly from the factory). it does not effect performance at all.

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I put a round zinc directly on my wedge plate (I got this recommendation directly from the factory). it does not effect performance at all.

Do you have a photo of this? I would really appreciate it!!!!!

I was thinking of stopping by the factory in Merced and asking them but this would be even better.

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E-coating kind of like electroplating but with expoy.

As far as coating the transom bracket, I've done it and have seen others do it without any problems lowering and raising the wedge.

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My wedge is also pitted. Were they originally powder coated or anodized? I know what little black color that is left on mine does not sand off easily. I tried to polish it up earlier this summer and found the coating seems to be hard, but won't stand up to the lake water. I plan to rework it this off season but don't know what coating may hold up next time.

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Zinc is for saltwater. For freshwater you should use magnesium.

The type of water you'll be boating in -- and the combination of metal found on your boat -- determines the type of sacrificial anode you will need. For freshwater boating, chances are you'll need magnesium or aluminum alloy anodes. Zinc will not protect anything in fresh water because there it has a potential of about 900 milliamps; whereas, a magnesium in freshwater will have the 200 milliamp spread needed. In saltwater, zinc will have a potential of about 1200 milliamps.

Edited by LS-One
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Oh shoot. I didn't know about this magnesium difference. I guess I can try the Zinc that I just put on and change it to Mag if it doesn't work.

I sanded down part of it to get to metal.

Drilled two matching holes.

Attached a teardrop Zince anode. $15 from west marine (overpriced but that is all we have here)

Hardware and bolts from Lowe's for $1.50

Spray painted black glass around the wedge. ($3 for paint)

I still need to shave down the bolts to make them more low profile.

Here is what it looks like:

PA030593.jpg

PA030595.jpg

PA030601.jpg

PA030606.jpg

Edited by Air Tahoe
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Since I'm asking ????? What are the arms made of? It looks like brass. Wonder if the different types of material between the aluminum blade, brass arms and stainless screws are contributing to the pitting?

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That corosion is exactly what mine looks like too. Still wondering what is best to recoat with after cleaning it up. What was original coating Powder coated or Annodized?

Originally it was anodized. Our last boat I had the foil and mounting plate powder-coated and it lasted 2 years before it started to peel. The boat down the lake had his e-coated three years ago, foil bracket and legs and looks like it should last a couple of more years.

Another option is it go to SS foil and bracket or a new SS floating wedge.

Below are a few pics of where the anode was attached to the mounting bracket and the SS wedge.

th_Wedgebracket2.jpg

th_SSWedgebracket.jpg

th_SSDrain3.jpg

Edited by onamission
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I put a round zinc directly on my wedge plate (I got this recommendation directly from the factory). it does not effect performance at all.

Do you have a photo of this? I would really appreciate it!!!!!

I was thinking of stopping by the factory in Merced and asking them but this would be even better.

I posted it on this site or the old BU crew site. I will see if i can dig it up (I know its not on this computer)

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