Corrosion questions

[foxer]

Took out my boat today to charge the batterys etc. Noticed that I was getting tiny white flecks in the bare aluminum? Boat was new in July 05' and has never seen salt It is stored under cover, although the the bow does get a little wet from rain. Battery is always in the "off" position when stored, although the kicker is hooked directly to the 2nd battery. Is this normal?

[Boats]

Electrolysis?

[foxer]

But what might be causing it? The kicker was hooked up to the second battery. When I turn my perco switch to "off", I can still run the power tilt to the kicker. Could this be it? The surface is not pitted, its still smooth.

[Onokai]

If you can still power tilt then you still have power on. pull the terminal battery wire on batteries. Or get a glass boat. Mark

[O Tshawytcha]

Make sure you have a common ground so that you don't have a voltage leak anywhere.

GRIFF

[NorthRiverRick]

I think the white flecks are normal. Having the kicker hooked directly to the 2nd Batt is not.

When you turn off the perko all should be off except an auto-bilge pump, if you have one.

[Metal Manipulator]

What O Tshawytcha means is don't use the boat for a ground run a seperate ground wire for every thing. Don't mean to step on you just thought a clarification wasn in order.

[boater]

do you have a peice of zinc or magnesium on it ?

[andiamo]

If you developed oxide pits while the boat was on the trailer, I find it hard to believe it is due to electrolysis. My understanding (not an electrical engineer, but close enough :grin is that you need a battery condition to move ions (cathode + anode + electrolyte between). I've seen electrolysis in a place where salt water was trapped in a joint that included a stainless rivet through aluminum strip (a fine battery), but never on a bare aluminum surface exposed to occasional rain (fresh) water. It is probably simple atmospheric oxidation. i.e. zincs won't help, just paint (My fiberglass boat oxidizes too when left without wax long enough). Good luck.