Possible rust issues arising.

[ScarabMike]

While washing the Scarab this weekend, I noticed and repaired a couple of locations of rust that everyone with a Scarab should look at. Ill have pictures soon on how I fixed them, but if not taken care of soon, they will grow to bigger issues.

1. Under the passenger, and driver seat there is a black handle that controls the forward and reverse adjustments. This handle looks like it is made of regular steel, and isnt treated. Mine were rusted from the aluminum base to the plastic handle. If not caught, they could have simply rusted off, and I would have lost the ability to adjust the seats. Now, the seat base, and lateral (side to side) was aluminum, and very sturdy. Im thinking this was an oversight.

2. Trailer built in guide bunks rusting around the connecting screw to the carpeted bunks. It looks like the trailer itself is galvanized and sprayed with Gatorhyde. But, these guide bunks dont look like they are galvanized, just coated steel.

I had to grind the rust off these locations, and coat them with galvanizing spray, prime, and coat with Rustolium paint. Ill keep everyone up to date in this thread on how effective my repair will hold up.

 

[GIII]

my cup holders are rusting too, cheap stainless.

the screws for the cover strap bungies on the rear are showing signs of rust too.

 

[ScarabMike]

Ok, so it seems the issue isnt that the bunks arent galvanized (that I can tell), but that the metals are different, and touching each other. When you add a corrosive like water, the metals react to each other, and the weakest one will rust out. Here is my solution to the rust on the bunk issue......

This is what the rust looks like behind the bolts and washers. If left alone, they will destroy your bunks in no time. Mine were rusted to the point I had to grind them with a Dremel to remove it all.

Make sure all the rust is removed, and then prepare the surface for paint. I used a galvanizing spray, then 3 coats of Rustolium texture paint. Its rated good for the marine environment. Here is what the surface looks like when prepping, and then painted.

Now the key here is not to tighten the bolts too much that it will break the paint, and touch the bare bunk metal again. So for this I purchased some stainless lock nuts and stainless washers, then to help prevent metal to metal contact, I purchased rubber washers to go behind the stainless washers.

Use the rubber washers under the stainless ones, and tighten the locknuts hand tight. You also want to spray some CRC corrosion preventative spray on the bolts coming out of the wooden bunks. Then your good to go.

 

[ScarabMike]

For those of you that want to know why this happens, here you go. To prevent it is as simple as adding an insulator (rubber) between the surfaces.
http://www.galvanizeit.org/hot-dip-galvanizing/how-long-does-hdg-last/in-contact-with-other-metals

 

[jdonalds]

My 8 year old Yamaha has no visible rust. Trailer yes, boat no. I'd expect more from Scarab.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

A trick to help reduce trailer corrosion in salt water use.
Place a small zinc anode near the back of the trailer grounded to it.
Your tow vehicle puts out a lot of D C current, the trailer is grounded to it , while it is in the water it benefits from the zinc. Every little bit helps prolong the trailer's life.

 

[ScarabMike]

A trick to help reduce trailer corrosion in salt water use.
Place a small zinc anode near the back of the trailer grounded to it.
Your tow vehicle puts out a lot of D C current, the trailer is grounded to it , while it is in the water it benefits from the zinc. Every little bit helps prolong the trailer's life.

Ill try that today. Ill be replacing my bow roller, might as well get it all done. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Glassman]

Good catch Mike. Left unnoticed, that could have gotten ugly. I'm always on the look-out for things like that.

One of the things I do to try and prevent it from happening is to spray all my metal parts with Boeshield T-9 http://boeshield.com/
A light coat goes a long way. I even spray it into my jets after I'm done boating and ready to put the boat away.

 

[ScarabMike]

@Glassman I'm going to pick some up from Bass Pro today. Man, they are starting to know me by my first name there, lol.

 

[Big Shasta]

Corrosion X HD works great too but it coats with a really thick coating that looks terrible. I use it on galvanized things on my aluminum trailer like the torsion arms. I don't really care what they look like. T9 is great stuff for things you will see. I use it all over my engines about once a year.