Hurricane Ivan survivor turns blue!

[mikehughes]

My brother keeps a yacht in the Caymans. Following the passing of hurricane Ivan (in which his yacht somehow survived unscathed thanks largley to hurricane hawsers) most of his metal deck fittings (cleats and portholes) and painted hull have turn blue! The affected fittings are made of phosphor bronze or brass and the bottom paint is copper. He describes it as a powdery blue coating which can be rubbed off but the original finish of the fittings cannot be restored. Steel fittings are unaffected. Sounds like some kind of oxidation to me but it is very odd. He also reports lots of diesel in the water (from sunken boats). I have pictures of the affected bits if anyone's interested.

Anyone come across this before? Any ideas on restoring fittings to original finish?

Many thanks,
Mike

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[Keith]

I wonder if live power lines in the water nearby had any affect on it.....you know positive/negative..anode/cathode....that type of thing........i don't know but would be interested to find out so i can protect my boat for next hurricane season........keith

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[boatmike]

Sounds like one for Agent Moulder this..... The truth is out there..... Any little chaps running around with big eyes and skinny arms?

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[mikehughes]

Hi Keith, you may be interested to know that my brothers boat was thrown onto the quay by the storm (which then collapsed and the boat ended up back in the water!). Then she sat with her bow sawing against the edge of the concrete dock! He reports some scary statistics ... The island was subjected to 165 mph winds for over 8 hours, the most impressive statistic - 208mph and 910Mb pressure make IVAN the 6th most powerful storm recorded in history.

Anyway ... back to the blue powder coating ... your idea sounds plausible ... but what would it be? copper chloride? any chemists out there?

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by mikehughes on 05/10/2004 12:38 (server time).</FONT></P>