cathodic protection

[plockton18]

I have just bought a wooden yacht, strip plank cedar construction, epoxy saturated and sheathed on the outside of the hull with double diagonal mahogany veneers, then two layers of biaxial mat.

The boat was built in 1993, and since that time has been without any anodes whatsoever. There is no sign of any corrosion to the skin fittings, etc, but my surveyor advised that I should now fit anodes. However, I have heard the view expressed that anodes are bad for wooden boats. Any advice?

 

[Frangipani]

If you're in a room with 2 surveyors, you will get 3 opinions: if there's no corrosion, then my advice would be to leave well alone. Wooden boats do much better with too little protection than too much - I've seen at least 3 boats this year with advanced rot in the planking around the anodes. The only rider to this is, how much protection is there for the bits you can't see? Make sure the engine has internal cathodic protection (as Yanmars and the like do) which is in good condition, otherwise corrosion may be taking place in the innards. If you do go ahead and fit an anode, make sure that the wood is fully electrically isolated from the anode and associated fittings. Drill the holes oversize, and fit plastic tubes to isolate the bolts and always use one of those rubber pads that go under the anode.

 

[fisherman]

Keep an eye on things in general: someone had loose wires in the bilge, possibly from an automatic pump. The stray current took the roves off all the copper fastenings. (We think that's what it was..........)