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Old 01-09-2017, 10:16 AM   #2
tadhana
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City: New England and Canada to Florida
Vessel Name: Tadhana
Vessel Model: Helmsman 38 Pilothouse
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 596
David,
There is a good argument that Aluminum anodes are a better anode for most any (non aluminum) boat and drive system (non aluminum). We changed from zinc to aluminum 3 years as we go. We go from salt to fresh and back to salt several times per year. Most of our year we are in brackish water. But I don't think anyone is making aluminum pencil anodes for engines. Let me know if you find a source. Cummins has told me that zinc engine anodes are fine even if you are using aluminum hull anodes. My own recent history confirms this. We change engine zincs about every 200 hours except when running the ICW and the boat is going every day and has some extended periods in FL salt water. Then we have to change the zincs every 100 hours. But over all, the engine anode life and change interval has not noticeably changed since we switched to aluminum hull anodes.

Cummins issued a service bulletin about 7 years ago to tell owners to remove, disassemble, clean and service the aftercooler once a year, rather than every two years as previously recommended. We have this service performed religiously every year. We run 600 hour per year. The corrosion is not so much affected by the hours of operation as it is affected by total hours of exposure to salt. Whether you run the engine 60 hours or 600 hours, over the course of a year the aluminum casting is exposed to salt for 8,760 hours.
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