wow- with all the things that go wrong with these boats, now I have to worry when I plug in? Any way to know in advance if I am plugging into a problem?
Dont mean to hijack this thread but after reading the article that, I believe it was, LaRea posted I am considering adding a second Mercathode Controller unit. It says having the water in your slip checked by a mechanic but sounds like you can do it yourself with a meter. @Handymans342 where can we get his meter? This is the link that I learned a lot from.
If you have a digital Multi Meter, boatzincs dot com sells the probe that you plug into the multimeter. I have one and I am planning on using it next week. It is a corrosion reference electrode.
I probably will get the meter as well so at least I know what I am up against. It would be great to have Al do the work on my boat if he's up for it, but I am still a fair distance away from him.
I am going to sand down my drives and repaint....do what I can. Just really ticked about the whole thing...blame myself.
OK don't want to rain on anyone's parade but what does it matter if you can measure stray currents. A situation can change in 1 day with a new boat moving in or a ground cable breaking loose on a boat. I wouldn't want to have to walk around my marina with a probe all the time. It would be an interesting experiment for the kids, but nothing more than that. I would rather just asume there is stray currents around and protect against it.
If you find stray current then you can try to correct the problem. Stray current can kill people swimming in the water. Also if its high you may need to add more zinc's or correct a problem with your boat. Either way its beneficial to know whats going on.
2002 342 Fiesta Vee PC Point Of Pines YC Revere MA. popyc.org raybo3@live.com
The old salt that use to be across from my slip would always shed down to his speedo and jump right in to clean his props and do whatever else he was doing. It always made me nervous as plenty of people on my dock are inconsiderate with power cables often hanging in the water.
Had to dig up this post to tell my story now that I have the
final word from the insurance company.....
In late April I picked up some fishing line when the water was low. It
wrapped around the prop shaft and cut the seal. I was leaking gear lube
but was able to keep enough in the reservoir that no damage was done to the
gears. In early May my mechanic pulled the boat and the drive was so
corroded from electrolysis that it wouldn’t seal up with new seal kit. He had a used lower portion of another drive
so he installed that.
After going back in the water the I was still losing gear
lube. It wasn’t unusual for a
reinstalled drive to use a little at the beginning so I wasn’t initially
concerned. However, it continued to use
oil. The boat was pulled again and he
determined the entire drive needed be replaced because of the electrolysis
corrosion issue. The marina where the
previous owner kept evidently had some kind of dock issue.
I thought I’d give the insurance claim route a try since the
fishing line was the original cause and now I was looking at a sizeable
repair. I was notified last Friday that
the insurance would cover it because the fishing line was the original
cause. In their determination the drive
condition wasn’t an issue.
I’m telling my story for a couple of reasons: One, this forum is great, after reading some
of the postings in this topic it made me think about the insurance route. After further poking around on the internet
I thought I had a case. Two, this might
help someone else some day in a similar situation.
Ray, thanks for the update! It is good to hear you will finally get the issue resolved and now covered by insurance. I'm sure your posting will help others out in the future. I too had an outdrive replaced last spring by insurance. Not exactly sure of the cause (may have hit something, but no real sign of it), but I was able to show the fluids were good and enough of it and it looked as though a gear tooth just gave loose.
Comments
You just don't know which one unless people inspect their anodes regularly and see high consumption.
Boat Name: King Kong
"Boat + Water = Fun"
http://www.sterndrives.com/galvanic_corrosion.html
06 Rinker 270
http://www.boatzincs.com/corrosion-reference-electrode.html
Go Steelers!!!
http://www.tri-statemarine.com/uncategorized/electric-shock-drowning/
I probably will get the meter as well so at least I know what I am up against. It would be great to have Al do the work on my boat if he's up for it, but I am still a fair distance away from him.
I am going to sand down my drives and repaint....do what I can. Just really ticked about the whole thing...blame myself.
Boat Name: King Kong
"Boat + Water = Fun"
Had to dig up this post to tell my story now that I have the final word from the insurance company.....
In late April I picked up some fishing line when the water was low. It wrapped around the prop shaft and cut the seal. I was leaking gear lube but was able to keep enough in the reservoir that no damage was done to the gears. In early May my mechanic pulled the boat and the drive was so corroded from electrolysis that it wouldn’t seal up with new seal kit. He had a used lower portion of another drive so he installed that.
After going back in the water the I was still losing gear lube. It wasn’t unusual for a reinstalled drive to use a little at the beginning so I wasn’t initially concerned. However, it continued to use oil. The boat was pulled again and he determined the entire drive needed be replaced because of the electrolysis corrosion issue. The marina where the previous owner kept evidently had some kind of dock issue.
I thought I’d give the insurance claim route a try since the fishing line was the original cause and now I was looking at a sizeable repair. I was notified last Friday that the insurance would cover it because the fishing line was the original cause. In their determination the drive condition wasn’t an issue.
I’m telling my story for a couple of reasons: One, this forum is great, after reading some of the postings in this topic it made me think about the insurance route. After further poking around on the internet I thought I had a case. Two, this might help someone else some day in a similar situation.
Ray
2006 390
Previous 2000 340
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express