Zincs

[pugtug613]

I will be painting my bottom next week. This is my first time splashing down. I boat my R27 The Pugs Tug last year and the yard did everything for me. The trim tabs are stainless steel and have no zincs. The rudder is some type of metal, maybe bronze, again, no zinc. There is a zinc on the prop. Shouldn't any metal below the water line have a zinc?

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

It should either have a zinc or be bonded to one. I've been thinking seriously about adding a plate zinc to my transom to bond things that may not be as well as add more zinc protection for the boat by grounding the plate.

Jim F

 

[pugtug613]

The Bennett website says "Do not use a bonding system for the trim tabs." There should be a zinc. I will add one. Maybe the rudder as well. I would hate to see what happens to that rudder when all the nickel and magnesium bleeds out. I would think, if you hit something, the rudder could break. I'm not a metallurgist, but I watch the discovery channel.

 

[Captain Steve]

My R25 has the round zincs, available from Ranger Tug parts on both trim tabs and the rudder. My first season last summer....the zincs lasted all of three months in the slip!

 

[Brian B]

A good source for zincs is boatzincs.com, they have all the zincs you may need even the Yanmar zincs. I use the 3 3/4" round rudder/trim tab Martyr zincs on my trim tabs. 1" Martyr doughnut zincs on each swim step support. Don't forget the thruster zincs also. My rudder does not have a zinc. The rudder is connected to the bonding system so is a zinc necessary??

 

[knotflying]

My Bennett trim tabs had pared rilles holes on the Bach and there are zincs available from Boats Zincs that fit perfectly.

 

[ALICE J]

I just put a new zinc on my prop, then discovered the "zinc" on my thruster was being "eaten" The side power says they are aluminum. I have three problems: 1. I can't get the thruster "zinc" loose from its housing, I have unscrewed the allen screw, but it won't budge. 2. How big of a nobility issue will I encounter?, 3. I thought the stainless steel plate was bonded with the thru bolt in the bottom of the bilge. I added about a 1" 316l Stainless Steel shoe to the bottom of my keel plate to better protect the prop when I explore the shallows. Maybe I should make friends with a metal grouper and keep him or her on a short line.

 

[knotflying]

The thruster anodes can be a problem to remove. I have done a couple of things to remove them in the past. A) spray them with some PB Blaster, tap then with a long shanked screw driver a bit and let them set over night. The next day tap again and then see if you can reach in with a needle nose plier and wiggle it loose. B) I have used a dremmel tool and cut a small notch in it and then split it off. In the future you may want to coat the shaft a bit with some marine grade anti-seize it will definitely aid with removal.

 

[no re-Gret]

Hi All, I am a brand new 2015 R27 owner as of last Friday.

The marinas here in the SF Bay area are pretty hot and I had problems with my old boat's swim step supports etc. So, I wanted to install a collar on the supports of the tug. It currently only has 3" discs on the trim tabs, thruster anodes and the prop zinc. Can anyone tell me the collar size needed for the supports? Also is anyone using a prop shaft zinc? Or a disc on the rudder? If so, can you pass along the size? Lastly can anyone tell me the plate size on the hull? I'd like to use aluminum all around.

Now the engine. Perhaps I'm just not looking in the right place in the Penta manual but I can't find anything about anodes other than on the stern drive which doesn't apply. My old Yanmars had 4 pencil zincs protecting the heat exchanger etc. Granted they were much bigger (350hp) engines than the Volvo D3-200 but it seems there should be something right?

I apologize if this is a repeat but in searching I was unable to find the answers on this site. Looking for wisdom.

 

[Osprey]

I just finished replacing the thruster anodes. The old ones can indeed by difficult to remove, particularly the anode on the forward thruster. The aft anode is easier in that the housing is short enough to allow one to reach and lightly tap the anode using a 12 inch screw driver. Not so with the forward thruster. I tried to grip the forward anode using various types of pliers without any hope of success. Finally I tried "sockets" from a "Craftsman Damaged Bolt/Nut Remover Set ( Craftsman model 52061 - either models 52165 or 52166 would also do). Using the nut remover tool , the anode readily twisted off the mount.
An earlier post made mention of using an anti-seize compound during the installation of the replacement anodes. Should one do so, keep in mind that the anode MUST make good electrical contact with the thruster mount.