danderer
Guru
My Side Power thruster has two zincs. They're mounted at the ends of the drive shaft. They mount over the prop retaining nut and within a small lip on the prop. There is a single allen bolt through the zinc.
Removing the zincs for replacement the first year was a nightmare. The allen bolts came out fine, but corrosion/wastege had bound the zincs firmly to both the prop and the retaining nut. There was no good way to get access to pry them out.
I tried drilling out pieces (while trying not to drill the prop or nut). I tried grinding and cutting. I tried running a screw into the zinc and pulling -- which had me fly backwards about 3 feet and land on my rump with the zinc still in-place. Nothing seemed to work well. I think after a few hours I finally drilled/ground out enough pieces to pry the remaining fragments out.
Thought about this over the next year and had a new approach to try.
1. Remove the allen bolt.
2. Drill a small hole off-center in the zinc. Don't go too deep.
3. Run some type of screw a few threads-deep into the hole. I use a thin course-thread screw like a decking or drywall screw.
4. Grab the screw head with a slide hammer and give it a pop.
What was interesting about this plan was that it actually worked like a charm. Removing those zincs is now a 5 minute task with no cursing.
Removing the zincs for replacement the first year was a nightmare. The allen bolts came out fine, but corrosion/wastege had bound the zincs firmly to both the prop and the retaining nut. There was no good way to get access to pry them out.
I tried drilling out pieces (while trying not to drill the prop or nut). I tried grinding and cutting. I tried running a screw into the zinc and pulling -- which had me fly backwards about 3 feet and land on my rump with the zinc still in-place. Nothing seemed to work well. I think after a few hours I finally drilled/ground out enough pieces to pry the remaining fragments out.
Thought about this over the next year and had a new approach to try.
1. Remove the allen bolt.
2. Drill a small hole off-center in the zinc. Don't go too deep.
3. Run some type of screw a few threads-deep into the hole. I use a thin course-thread screw like a decking or drywall screw.
4. Grab the screw head with a slide hammer and give it a pop.
What was interesting about this plan was that it actually worked like a charm. Removing those zincs is now a 5 minute task with no cursing.
