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Managing corrosion

If you sail on salt water, you need to read this

Managing corrosion

Managing corrosion


Corrosion is the enemy, whether you sail large or small boats and on radio yachts, if you do not maintain your electrics and spars, they will quickly fail you.


Let me give you an example of corrosion. I sailed a fastnet race and returning from the rock towards the Scilly Isles, some very kind crew member decided to throw my bag into the bilge water on the leeward side of the boat. Inside was an electric razor. When we got back to Plymouth I opend the razor to find that all the circuitory had disappeared.


On a radio yacht salt will eat connectors, spars winches, receiver and servo's if they are exposed for any length of time to salt water. In addition, over time your electic wires will turn black and need replacing. See the pictures below to see the effects of corrosion.





The result of lack of maintenance
The result of lack of maintenance

The dodgy wire connection lead to black wire from the battery connector to the switch
The dodgy wire connection lead to black wire from the battery connector to the switch

I neglected to clean out the mast after regular outings to salt venue and ended up with a 1.5 inch column of salt above the mast step. You will see the effects of corosion in the screw holes of the gooseneck, spreader holes and shroud and jib entry points on the mast



So what do I do to defend against corrosion


A few simole steps will ensure you never/unlikely to have an issue with corrosion.


I spray all connectors every few weeks with Corrosion X and allow to dry. I saturate the receiver with Corrosion X and allow the oil to flow right through the unit. Each component is positioned in the boat so it is out of the water but if any salt water is seen in the boat, I rinse the inside out with an egg cup full of fresh water. That flushes any salt out and then dry the inside thoroughly with a blower (in my case a matress inflater which has the added bonus of blowing warm air through the boat.


Every few sails on salt water, I will take the end fittings off the mast and flush with fresh water. The mast step picture above shows how the salt can accumulate. I can get water inside the booms so they are not an issue and are flushed after every sail.



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