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Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins
Zinc anodes stop electrolytic corrosion, but oxidation is a chemical process not affected by anodes. Paint, muchas chipping and grinding are about the only tools you have there.
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RR, thanks for clearing that up! High school chemistry was 25 years ago for me!
I was in the Deck Division on the Darter when I first reported aboard and chipping and painting was a never ending task. Every time we pulled into our home port of Sasebo the first evolution was a fresh water washdown. We would rig up a hose from the pier and hose down the boat in an attempt to remove as much salt residue as was possible. Almost immediately the needle guns and chipping hammers would come out followed closely by the paint brushes. Most of the time it was just touch ups, but twice in one year we completely repainted the boat from the water line up! It was dirty, hot, nasty work and we all hated it, but fully realized that it was vital.
One other nasty job assigned to Deck Division was the cleaning of the zinc anodes. I don't remember the periodicity (I think it was twice a year), but we would have to find every zinc block above the waterline and scrape off the powder left behind by the process that RR described. At first we used wire hand brushes and this took forever. One of my shipmates had a bright idea of using a wire wheel attached to a pneumatic gun. This spun the wire wheel pretty damn fast and it made quick work of the zinc block, but produced a white cloud of dust everywhere. We were rigged up in full protective gear with respirators and sweated our butts off, but it was worth it as it saved a lot of time.
Navy...it's not just a job, it's an adventure!