Capt Kangeroo
Senior Member
When scraping barnacles off the running gear a few months back I noticed there are three or four very deep pits on my stainless steel prop shafts. (I believe they are 3" dia shafts) The pits range from 1/4" to 3/8 dia roughly and up to 1/4" deep. They have the appearance of being impurities in the s/s which has been eaten out by rust/corrosion. I have no idea how long they have been there or if its an old problem that has long since been corrected.
I had a similar problem with the large s/s studs that tighten the packing glands down. These looked like "brand new" except each had one or two pitts so deep you could break the studs in half with your bare hands.
The boat has a Quicksilver galvanic isolator and everything is bonded. Zincs are good but very likely neglected in the past.
Any ideas as to whats happening? I'm thinking of getting in a pro welder to grind out these spots and fill them in with s/s rod. Any thoughts on repairing this way? These shafts are probably 15ft long and I imagine ridiculously expensive to replace.
I had a similar problem with the large s/s studs that tighten the packing glands down. These looked like "brand new" except each had one or two pitts so deep you could break the studs in half with your bare hands.
The boat has a Quicksilver galvanic isolator and everything is bonded. Zincs are good but very likely neglected in the past.
Any ideas as to whats happening? I'm thinking of getting in a pro welder to grind out these spots and fill them in with s/s rod. Any thoughts on repairing this way? These shafts are probably 15ft long and I imagine ridiculously expensive to replace.