{"id":19200,"date":"2011-11-14T05:34:32","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T10:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=19200"},"modified":"2011-11-14T05:52:25","modified_gmt":"2011-11-14T10:52:25","slug":"aluminum-hulls-zincs-and-corrosion-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/aluminum-hulls-zincs-and-corrosion-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Aluminum Hulls, Zincs, and Corrosion Control"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wind-Horse-Zincs-after-6.5-years-2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Over the last 30 years we’ve been involved in many aluminum and fiberglass yacht construction projects. Our experience has been that properly built, aluminum holds a substatial edge overall\u00a0in maintenance issues. “But what about corrosion, and the horror stories that are rumored?” you might be thinking.<\/p>\n

To anwser that we offer the photos above and below. Those are sacrificial zincs, formerly attached to the hull \u00a0of Wind Horse<\/em> as sacrificial anodes, so that any corrosion comes off their mass rather than the hull.<\/p>\n

And they are the original<\/span> zincs, from when Wind Horse<\/em> was launched, 6.5 years, and 50,000+ miles ago. The two end zincs(top photo) are from the middle of the hull, the center two are from near the rudders. Of the original material we estimate overall less than a quarter of the sacrificial zincs have been consumed. We have been carrying six spares all these years, so we are going to change them as we want to reduce “stuff” in the basement. But the reality is these could go another six to ten years.<\/p>\n

There are a number of factors involved with such a small amount of corrosion and anodic activity:<\/p>\n