Marine Vessel Stainless and Aluminium Maintenance

We think of modern boats, especially production boats, as made of fiberglass, but even if your boat’s structure is ’glass much of the rest of her is metal. Hardtops and radar arches, bowrails, cleats and chocks, electric horns and spotlights, anchors, the rigging that supports a trawler’s mast—all of it started out as some kind of ore.

Fact is, without metal we’d be back in the boating Stone Age But while metal is often robust, whether it’s stainless, bronze, aluminium, or iron it needs a little TLC once in a while.

Stainless steel fastenings are usually 18-8 alloy. Type 316 stainless contains a bit more chromium and about 3 percent molybdenum for better corrosion resistance at the cost of a little strength; it’s used for deck hardware and underwater applications.

Aluminium also protects itself by combining with oxygen to create a surface layer of aluminium oxide, and it’s often given a head start during manufacturing by anodization, basically controlled galvanic corrosion: The aluminium acts as the anode in an electrolyte bath, and when electric current is applied it picks up oxygen from the electrolyte to form an aluminium-oxide surface layer.

Both can be restored, polished and protected with various products depending on the condition it is in. If done correctly it should only need a polish once or twice a year and a regular wash and chamois dry to keep it looking good. Towers on game fishing boats are a specialty.

Book now or call to discuss your best options. The Boat Butler – When Quality Comes First!