How to extend the useful life of Max Prop Zincs
After extensive research and design, you will see the before and after results of a Max Prop Zinc that had its screw "corners" protected with standard Nail Polish. Two coats
were applied with good drying time allowed after each coat of polish was applied. This enables the small area of zinc surrounding the screws to be protected and not undergo
galvanic corrosion as quickly. Special Note: Ensure that nail polish is not applied to where the screws contact the zinc or all protection will be lost.
The rest of the zinc is now allowed to do its job protecting the prop without falling off prematurely, due to the small area around the screws
corroding away too fast. In high salinity waters, the zinc may fall off in 2 to 3 months with only 10 to 20% of the zinc being used. When the corners are protected, 6 to
18 month life spans will be common before zinc replacement is required. A 12 month replacement cycle will probably become your personal standard. In the first picture
(below left), the used zinc was removed after 8 months. Although it was not reattached, it still had many useful months of life that could have been utilized.
After discovering this wonderful solution, the concept was applied to other situations. To the right of the max prop zinc picture, are two pictures of a zinc installed in a Generator.
Prior to the zinc having protection applied where the actual zinc connects with the threads contacting the metal to be protected, it would loose many useful months of use due
to accelerated wear at the threads contact point. This would cause the zinc material to separate and fall off from the brass bolt head. The top picture shows a new zinc prior
to installation and the bottom picture shows a perfectly wearing zinc after many months of use.
Below the zinc pictures, is five years of local salinity data. The local (FL Indian River Mosquito Lagoon) environmental conditions are directly affected by the amount of
rain and sunshine. Standard cycles create a normal peak of salinity (highest value) around the beginning of summer. The lowest salinity is obtained at the beginning of winter.
Analysis of the data shows a clear relationship as to the causes and reasons. Starting with the low salinity at the beginning of winter, as sunshine starts to increase, water is
evaporated from the lagoon area raising the salinity. Rainfall is at its lowest level adding to the 'behind the curve' scenario. Salinity continues to climb until the summer rains
start in earnest around the beginning of summer. As the rainfall increases above the evaporation rate and sunlight decreases, salinity starts to decrease. The graph below shows
this normal progression with various monthly bumps caused by variations in rain (sometimes, tropical systems) or sunlight (clouds). A significant note is that the trend occurs ever
year, but due to the local deficit of rain in Florida over the last three years, the 'normal' low and high points of 15 and 27 have been raised to 25 and 37. There was a significant
increase in rainfall in the fall of 2008, but it was short lived and appears to be a temporary abnormality in the (so far) 3 year drought.
In our opinion, there are many factors that affect zinc life and utility, but the local salinity appears to have the greatest affect on reducing zinc life. If any of the
normal 'Dock Talk' items are in existence, such as a neighbor's 'hot' boat, it will typically cause zincs to 'explode' instead of just causing a premature fast decay rate
like the effect of high salinity.
