Zinc Replacements on shafts rudder & Yanmars?

[fuenstock]

The broken off zinc will dissolve with time and if it's making good contact with the metal component it will even still do it's job. I do not believe it will have any negative effect but you may opt to call Mac Boring at 866-526-9717 for further info.

When you ask if there is anything else to do after the zincs are you referring to winterization or general maintenance of the raw water side of the engine? How many hours on the clock?

After asking around, seems the broken off zinc is not going to bother anything. I've already ran the boat a couple times and no heating issues, so all is good.
As for doing any other maintance. I was asking about the raw water side of the engines maintanance. Im sure I have done every thing required acording to the manuals.
I have got some good advice here, thanks again.
I live in California, so luckly I don't need to winterize my Albin. Get to fish year round!
Fuenstock

[RobS]

As for doing any other maintance. I was asking about the raw water side of the engines maintanance.

Not sure what year your 6LP is or how many hours on the clock but you may want to consider a Rydlyme flush of the raw water side. Mine is a year 2000 with 600ish hours. My cruising temp remained the same but she used to climb about 10deg at WOT or near WOT. Now the temp does not climb when I have to push it. Here's the link for when I did mine:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2054

[NJRobert]

I found that Boat Zincs.com offers the best pricing. Especially if you order extras and you get the total over $100.00, then it's usually free shipping. My 2007 6LP has a total of 4 pencil zincs. I have one compact donut on the prop shaft, a zinc for the Vetus bow thruster, one each for the trim tabs, and I use a 5" plate for the rudder. I noticed that sdome people also put collar zincs on two of their swim platform support bars. Not sure if that helps. Does anyone know?

[NJRobert]

I know someone who drilled thru their hull and installed a block, which they claim, helped reduce the electrolysis process. Is this different than installing a galvanic isolator?

[pcthornton]

The Yanmar 315 has 5 pencil zincs. One on the top of the intercooler, one on the side of the oil cooler, another on the forward end of the oil cooler, one on the forward end of the fresh water cooler (port side - I was unsuccessful getting this one off) and one on the side of the fresh water cooler. It takes a combination of 1" and 2" zincs, but I can't remember which go where. It's in the operation manual, though.

[Russell]

Robert: The block zinc is different from the isolator and it just adds more zinc to be consumed. The block must be tied in or bonded to the other zincs. The isolator must be purchased but it is easily mounted on a 28 by locating the shore power cord above the panel over the side berth. You only need to break the gound wire and attach the two ends to the isolator and mount the isolator on the fiberglass liner. My Newmar isolator is mounted a foot or so aft of where the power cord turns from the hull to go to the electrical panel. Personally I do not like to drill holes in my hull but a lot of boats have those large zincs mounted on the transom.

[NJRobert]

I'm trying to follow your path of the ground wire. On my '07 28TE, the plug for my shore power is located at the rear port side, almost directly underneath a flush mount rod holder. What you're saying is that Ineed to connect the isolator behind the electric panel down in the cabin, or would it have to be visible somewhere?

[RicM]

Ahhh there's the debate about the galvanic isolator. Most now have a green/red LED to indicate that the unit is working correctly or not. The lights are supposed to be checkable, as if the unit is not working when you connect to shore power you would be in a potentially dangerous (like fatal) condition with no ground from the boat to shore. Some units like the Newmar have the option of remote LED's you can mount on the dash.

[Russell]

Robert, the isolator can be anywhere along the power line and does not have to be visible. It has no switches or lights. It is not waterproof, so inside somewhere is best. The easiest spot is above the side berth where the power cord is attached to the hull. As far as safety Newmar says this: "Installing the Galvanic Isolator between the AC safety ground and DC bonding system, blocks a majority of the low voltage currents and corrosive action on the zincs is significantly reduced ( while the integrity of the critical safety ground path is maintained.) This means a significant savings in boat haul-out fees and zinc replacement costs. For additional safety, the units feature a large capacitor, providing a secondary low impedance path for sending AC current to ground."
Some cheaper isolators do not have the capacitor to accept low currents and claim that it is unnecessary.

[NJRobert]

Ric brings up an interesting point Russ. Is there any real way to know if it's working properly, without some sort of indicator light?

[RicM]

I believe that I read SOMEWHERE that ABYC standards require that there be a way of monitoring if the isolator is working or not. If it's not you could get fried pretty easily.

[RobS]

I believe that I read SOMEWHERE that ABYC standards require that there be a way of monitoring if the isolator is working or not. If it's not you could get fried pretty easily.

Attached is an article on Galvanic Isolation from ABYC's technical publication Reference Point. The article lists the requirements of an ABYC qualified GI and does state that it is to be monitored.

However, the article then goes on to explain that a GI that is designed to be "Failsafe", in that if it fails it will continue to maintain ground but may not provide galvanic isolation, does not require a monitor. So then how would you know whether or not it's doing it's job other than by monitoring your zinc consumption?

[Russell]

Here is a link to another explanation about galvanic isolators and a method to test them with a VOM: http://www.yandina.com/galvanicIsolator.htm . I do not undertand why it would be so dangerous if it were not working. If it is shorted out, then its like its not there and the green ground wire is continuous. If it is open, the engine ground is not connected to shore. You have no way to accidently access the ground from shore and the boat sitting in salt water is not going to build up a dangerous charge. The AC outlets still have their other ground (white wire) to complete their circuit. Maybe someone will explain this.

[jack Stone]

On the Yanmar Zinc thread. I went to Mack Boring to get the 5 I needed for my 05. After paying 12 bucks + each, my marina manager (also a motor repair guy and honest) told me I was crazy to buy them from MB. I thought I needed to get them from Yanmar like the fuel filters. Not so. He sent me down to my local West Marine. They didn't have the sizes (brass part) I needed but did have the zinc size so I picked up the pencil replacements (also I didn't know the zinc part is threaded and I could reuse the brass). I needed 3 different size brass fittings not the 2 the manual shows.
The cost went down to 6 bucks each.

I also was going to replace the raw water impeller but my guy here said the new ones tend to fail within about 2 weeks about 40% of the time and asked if I had a heating problem. I don't so he said leave it alone until I got an indication I needed a new one.
Being the kind that likes to stay ahead of the curve, I would normally just replace it but this guy does this for a living. So I'm going to just keep it the wrenches, gasket and impeller on board.

[Carl]

Not what I want to hear! I am in the process of relacing my impeller now. I was on the phone with Mac Boring yesterday to get some part #s for a gasket I broke while taking things apart. Now I dont know if I should replace it or not!. Anyone else have any trouble with replacement impellers? John, maybe you can break these out and start a new post?