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Anode material selection

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:58 pm
by thunder550
When I bought my boat, it had Magnesium anodes on it that were mostly gone. I did a bit of research and read that Magnesium was specific for fresh water, Zinc for salt/brackish, and Aluminum was acceptable for both. 99% of our boating will be in fresh water, but as I've shared in other threads, we may do a once a year trip to San Diego and put the boat in salt water.

I settled on aluminum anodes since they supposedly work for both fresh and salt water. Seeing the buildup on my prop after 4 days in Havasu got me thinking though (not that it's corrosion, just made me think), they anodes are really easy to change so maybe I'd be better off with a set of both magnesium and zinc and just change them out when we move from fresh water to salt and back.

Any thoughts on this? Should I stick with aluminum since that's what I already have, or would it be better to get two more sets and swap as necessary?

Re: Anode material selection

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 10:55 pm
by jhnmdahl
I'd be tempted to stick with aluminum for both, but if I were leaving the boat in the water for several days (especially in a marina that had a lot of shore power run), I might think harder about swapping.

Re: Anode material selection

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 5:37 am
by Tuscany
I think your decision would be more critical if you wet slip.
If you trailer, I don't think anodes really matter at all. Never changed them in 13 years on my last boat because they never had the chance to erode away. They still looked brand new after all of that time.

A friend of mine wet slips his R3 in fresh, and it definitely took a toll on them in the first year.

Re: Anode material selection

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 8:47 pm
by thunder550
Thanks guys. I think I'm going to stick with the aluminum.

Re: Anode material selection

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:34 pm
by cmattj
Aluminum ..
and as stated it will be the dock you tie off to that can be your underwater electrolysis headache..depending on what's underwater.. 50 amp service with old technology on the dock.. yum yum