William Hartwell Woodruff writes >
> don't they do something similar on steel hull ships? I think they
>use a sacrificial piece of metal which they let rust and therefore remove/
>use up/involve some critical component of the oxidation process.
I am not the chemist here. I do know that the brick of metal used in steel
sailboats (big ones) by the propeller (OK, you salty dogs, "screw") is zinc.
I am pretty sure that this chunk of zinc is just bolted into its pocket and has
no active electrical source.
I am told that this is also the point of galvanizing. The zinc protects the
surrounding steel, even if small chips occur. Chemists, tell us all about
this, please.
I have a marine railway for my little O'Day sailboat. The top section sits on
the ground year around. The three lower sections spend half the year sitting
in a lake. The area right at lake level gets wet/dry, water/air all summer.
All winter the three lower sections sit stacked up outside in the snow, rain
and ublek. The rails are galvanized steel. They show no signs of decay after
years of this abuse.
Lotus sell galvanized replacement frames for some of their cars. I wish that
the frame in mine had been galvanized in the first place. I cannot afford to
buy a new Lotus frame. I don't want to take every last piece off my frame and
try to find someone who would hot-dip galvanize the whole thing.
So how effective is cold-galvanizing paint? Where do you get it? Can you
brush it on? Is it hard to get it to stick to the old metal? What kind of
preparation is necessary? Will it stay on?
If this stuff is any good, I would use it on the bad spots of the
Mighty K-wagon. It's silver, and just an appliance, after all. Anyway, the
idea of something that is not just a coating, but actually DOES something is
very attractive to me.
Phil Ethier, THE RIGHT LINE, 672 Orleans Street, Saint Paul, MN 55107-2676
h (612) 224-3105 lotus@pnet51.orb.mn.org
w (612) 298-5324 phile@pwcs.stpaul.gov (list goes here)
"The workingman's GT-40" - Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman
--
Login name: phile In real life: Philip J Ethier
Phone: 298-5324
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