RC wood boat Corrosion help!!!!

[AlexAlex]

I have a RC boat, all wood, and the positive compenents of everything electrical are corroding, I cant stop it, is it possible to somehow ground the electrical system? Please help

[ropanach]

IT IS KNOWN AS ELECTROLISUS, IF IT'S SPELT RIGHT, ON STANDARD BOATS THAT ARE OF WOOD AND SOME THAT ARE NOT THEY USE A COPPER PAINT TO COAT THE BOTTOM OF THE BOAT,i DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY CALL IT BY SOME BRAND NAME i'M SURE, AND A GROUND STRAPS IS PAINTED IN AT THE SAME TIME, AND ALL CONNECTIONS ARE PAINTED WHAT A PROTECTENT OF SOME SORT, JUST TO HELP IT ALONG, HOPE THIS HELPS, IF NOT SOME ONE WITH THE CORRECT NAMES FOR ALL THIS STUFF WILL BE ALONG SHORTLY.

[CG Bob]

Electrolisys is caused by the galvanic reation of the metal peices to each other and the water. On full size ships and boats, sacraficial zinc anodes are attached to the hull, rudders, prop shafts, and inside the raw water cooling system. One cure for models is to solder a wire lead from the motor can to the prop shaft stuffing tube.

Sometimes the corrosion is caused from water getting inside the boat; and you're not geting all of the water out or allowing it to evaporate. I have fuel bulb in my boat box that I use to suck any water out of my hull. A turkey baster also works well. If I get any water in my hull I use the fuel bulb to remove the water; I also leave the cabin or deck off the boat for a few days to allow any residual water to evaporate. I sometimes get some water in my PT boat when I back down; the water washes up over the deck and through the hatch perimeter.

[AlexAlex]

Umm lets just say that I have a bit of a leakey hull...I cant seal the prop shaft, its in a compartment and its a structural compartment, if I pull it out, the entire hull snaps. My friend built the plain hull years ago. I use a small fuel pump with filters and a servo switch to act as a bilge pump-works great while underway or out of the water.

[fhhuber506771]

you can get some zinc and affix it to one of the components that tends to corrode. It won't PREVENT the corrosion completely... but it will slow it down considerably. The zinc will have to be replaced periodicly as it will disintegrate.

Sacraficial zincs are why big metal ships can use the ocean and not self-destruct in just a few years.

[AlexAlex]

Ahh well the part thats corroding is above the water level, will zincs still work? ohh and does any body know how to build a simple water cooler for elect. motors? My drive shaft bent(stupid thing!), so the boat dosent rattle itself apart, I had to connect 2 parts of the drive shaft with surgical tubing-as a dampner and so the drive shaft can enter the water at a sharper angle.

[fhhuber506771]

No such thing as a simple water cooler for electric... You can wrap the motor in copper tubing and pump water through... but you'd need to pump a fair amount of water. Also.. the water would be heating as it went through the tube so to evenly cool you need a headder going to several tubes that each made 1 turn around the motor then another header for the exit. The soldering involved gets a bit tedious.

The zincs might still help some... but painting or coating with vaseline or similar is probably going to help more for stuff that is not corroding from immersion.

Bent drive shafts can usually be straightened... Its another somewhat tedious process of tweaking and then roling the shaft on a glass table to check the results.. tweak some more... but you can learn to straighten one relatively quickly (depending on how badly its bent)

[ropanach]

I to;d you some one would be along to tell it correctly.

[jeno]

Another thing you might try is to ground all the offending metal components together and connect to you battery ground. This won't neccesarily cure it, but it should help. You obvios cure would be to find a way to seal you prop shaft. brass tubing with a small oil seal silicon'd to the stuffing box is one suggestion.
Jonathan

[talonxracer]

You will need to air the boat out whenever it is not on the water, seal ALL exposed wood. All your hardware such as nuts and bolts should be stainless steel already, all the rest can be coated with a water displacing compound. Go by a full scale marine shop to get the water displacing stuff. Cant remember the name of the stuff that I used on electronics on aircraft in the navy but we called it grade 4 water displacing spray. It had a sorta grease/oil that hardened to a thin almost tacky light brown coating. worked real good!

Doug

[viking57]

similar to what doug mentioned, you might try "battery terminal protectant spray" , available at any auto parts store. I have had good luck with this in my gas boats to stop the same condition.I chose to spray it into a small cup and brush it on as it can get messy with the spray. Regards , John

[fatboy999]

A quick and cheap way to slow up corrosion is to spray all components with WD40, which is a multi-purpose lubricant/anti-corrosion spray. It is a little messy, but the propellent dissapates and leaves only the oil film. As for the stuffing box leaking, remove the prop shaft, drill a small hole in the top of the stuffing box and solder a piece of tubing over the hole. Now you can inject grease into the stuffing box which will slow up the water from coming up the prop shaft into the hull. I use good old Vaseline and inject it with a large size needle that I got from the local animal hosipital. I removed the needle part and connect it directly to the tube using a short piece of vinyl hose that fits tight over both ends. I have a removable hatch cover that allows me access from the deck area to the grease tube.

[Ghost 2501]

to seal the shafts on my boats I use castrol EP grease usually used on axles, pump a syringe full and shove a large quantity up the tube, then insert the shaft, once it pushes the grease out its done :)

btw what do the submarine boys use to seal the live terminal on the batteries when they are stored in the flood chamber to prevent a water induced short circuit?

[CG Bob]

As a sub driver, I put RTV on the spade connectors and the battery terminals after they are connected. Some guys don't use any thing but an anti oxidizing grease.