What causes the corrosion of the bottom of the boat? Galvanic currents and the organisms present in the water can cause this phenomenon. How do you protect your boat?
Annual maintenace. What should you replace?
Before launching a boat for the season, it requires a careful maintenance. But what are the works to be carried out?
- Removing the pests from the bottom (with a thorough brushing and a complete wash)
- Accurate control of the waterline
- Replacement of sacrificial anodes (also called “zinc”).
Foulings on the bottom
The bottom surface is usually subject to fouling of flora and fauna that slow the scrolling of the boat in the water. However, we can observe how some materials are attacked less easily than others. For example, stainless steel remains less corrupt than other materials, especially in relation to galvanic corrosion problems that instead afflict materials such as copper and lead. On a steel bottom, the wear of some parts is considerable; special attention should be paid to sacrificial anodes (as mentioned above). If the galvanic current is particularly aggressive, you will need to replace them before putting the boat in the water (note that the maximum wear is of 75%).
What causes the galvanic corrosion?
Sea water is effectively an excellent liquid conductor. If two different metallic materials (with different electric potential) come into contact with each other, immersed in a liquid conductor, a galvanic current is generate, caused by a different electric potential. The material with lower electrochemical potential is called cathode and the one with higher electric potential is called anode; the latter feeds the flow yielding particles, leading to corrosion, resulting in oxidation of the cathode.
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