zinks going fast

I have come to realize that something has changed at my marina, my zinks are going much faster then in the past. My question is what is a cheap way to deal with this ie: something I can leave in the water at my slip?

Try putting a big zinc on a heavy wire over the side, but be sure to secure the on board end to your bonding system. Old zincs are good for this. In my marina there are boxes of old zincs laying around, so look around for the ones in the best condition.

Someone's boat (or maybe yours) could be leaking current to ground through the water. You might want to tell the marina management. - SteveH

-- Edited by SteveH on Friday 4th of June 2010 09:12:07 PM

take a multi meter and put one lead in the water and the other lead on a good ground (this might take some creativity), and if you get a few volts of current then somebody is leaking.

and if you get a few volts of current then somebody is leaking.


Then simply unplug your neighbors and find out which it is.

We have found the biggest problem to be folks hooked up woth a non marine power cord , hanging in the water. These can be some distance away !!!

I would ask the marine to trace, and would not start unplugging other boats.* The real concern is not volts but amps.* It only takes a couple of milli amps to for an electric shock.* As small as 0.01 amps.* Most multi meters do not measure amps so buy a volt and amp meter.* Start at your boats shore power box and test the water and the AC ground. That will tell you if its the water of the AC ground. A galvanic isolator is only good for like 0.04 volts which is not much. *Another resource is battery chargers and large amps draws like heaters, water heaters, stoves etc which can add up.* Every time we have a new neighbor I check for stray volts and amps.* The best is to let the marina check the other boats and you or an marine electrician check out your boat.


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To protect you can buy Fish/grouper zincs that you can hang of the side connected to you zinc loop.* During the winter I have on hanging from the bow and one off the stern as they are easy to check.*

I found a big part of the problem. The connection to the bonding system was by means of the compression plate for the rudder packing, problem is this isn't a reliable connection to the ruddder post. How many boats out there are the same?

If the wire did not have a good connection then the zinc should not have been used as it was not protecting? **So did you check for stray volts and/or amps?* **
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