Lost my blue Etec 50 to galvanic corrosion

[hartflat]

Greetings!

Haven't posted here for quite a while but felt I should share this experience with other Mac owners.

I purchased a new 26M from Mike Inman back in 2007, with a newly installed 2006 Blue Etec 50. (I say "Blue" because I have since learned that the preferred saltwater version of the Etec line are white) After years of battling corrosion at the slip, the bottom unit was rendered useless & seized up due to corrosion. The galvanic effect was such that the corrosion damaged the lift unit & ate through the leading edge of the prop section. I tried replacing zincs, installing a galvanic isolator, applied anti-fouling paint to the bottom gear unit & kept the parts exposed to the water as clean as possible... none of which made any difference in stopping the inevitable. The original blue paint & primer started chipping within two years of purchase & eventually flaked away, leaving the gear unit bare metal exposed.

After inspection by a reputable marine mechanic here in the Oxnard/Ventura, CA area, I was told that the gear & lift units had to be replaced... at a cost just shy of what a new Etec 50 would cost. Oh, what a bad day! We'll, after a bit of research, it was a no brainer to go with a "White" Etec 60. The added cost of parts & labor for retro fitting a Suzuki or Yamaha just didn't seem worth the added cost. Etec's are very low maintenance, quiet & easy to start.

Here's where any input & advise would be helpful.. I have no intentions of going through this expensive saltwater corrosion experience again if it can be avoided at all. The mechanic says he will check the wiring on the boat & make sure their are no stray current leaks or loose wires causing the damage. There's also the possibility that the wiring at the marina, or an adjoining boat or two may be the culprit, but good luck to me solving the problem if that's the case.

Comments & input would be greatly appreciated.

I'd like to share some pics with you all, but I never have been able to figure how to do that on this site.

[Gazmn]

Sorry Dude,

I had an '06 90HP. Back then you had to get the Saltwater version. Now they're all Saltwater ready regardless of color & you have choices.

There are a lot of sacrificial zincs on Etecs. Regularly inspect them; that'll go first and let you know something's not right. They're very easy for you to replace; Where are you keeping your boat? Is it in a slip? Don't jump in. You definitely have stray current there. Fix that first.

If it's different metals, keep a better eye on mix or did you use regular bottom paint on something metal?

Lastly, make sure you lift the motor out of the water when not in use. Get a jack plate if you have to. & face the boat anyway needed to make this work if in slip. Paint it properly, Metal primer & bottom paint. [This also caused me a problem when I did this wrong.]

& if you're repowering with E-tec consider HP upgrade

[Ixneigh]

I have the same issue on my white motor. I right away noticed the paint issues the first year. The parts of the motor bracket that were in the water, and the supports for the lift thingy were corroding. I made some custom zincs that seemed to help. The next issue was the part of the lower unit that just kisses the water was corroding. I tried various things like connecting the lower unit to a zinc on the boat via a cable but the only thing that seemed to help was trimming the motor all the way up and loading the boat so the engine cleared the water. Bow heavy. I keep my boat on the hook. I feel that the problem may lie with the stainless steering components. I used to have small zincs on the rudder brackets and I will probably reinstall them. I caught the issues before major damage was done. I laugh at thier saltwater rating. See me laugh hahahshahsha11!!!!1 the old motors from the seventies seemed to have no such problems.
Btw did you look on the internet for just the damaged parts? Or shop around to different mechanics?
Good luck with the new motor.

Ix

[Tomfoolery]

I'd like to share some pics with you all, but I never have been able to figure how to do that on this site.

Assuming you don't have a picture hosting account somewhere, and don't want one, use http://www.tinypic.com. Click the 'Browse...' button, navigate through you computers files to the photo you want to post, select it and click 'Open' (assuming windows OS), then click the big green 'Upload Now' button. It may or may not return a little commercial or advert that requires you to key something into the window, but once that's done, it will return four little windows with various forms of url to your picture. The second one from the top has the appropriate ubb code at each end, so left click it to highlight it, then right click and copy the link.

Paste that entire link right into your post (don't add more ubb code (the 'img' bits), but do put the picture on its own line (makes it easier to read your post that way), even better with a blank line before and after.

Hit 'Preview' to see if it's what you want. It will be small, as on this forum it's a preview picture that may be larger when you click on it.

tinypic doesn't require an account, or anything else for that matter, but the downside is that there no library, so you'd have to store the url if you want to get back to it. Like with a bookmark to the page. But for pics I want to keep, I use photobucket (which does required an account), but there are others, too.

Looking forward to seeing some pics.

Oh, and hit the 'Quote' button in my post to see what this pic looks like, behind the curtain.

[raycarlson]

This is a common QC issue with etec's. They had many issues from ecu software, lubrication, corrosion, read some of the early etec forums out there. It took them almost a decade to get most of their engineering issues straightened out, I doubt that their even making a profit yet after the hundreds of millions they had to pay out in warranty repairs.

[mastreb]

+1 to everything Gazm said. Zincs are critically important--replace them when they're 50% gone. Keep the motor tilted all the way out of the water.

Here's a "quick and dirty" way to measure the amount of stray current at your marina that. This comes from my knowledge of electricity and testing, NOT from experience, but this kind of test is VERY BASIC electricity and it should clearly indicate whether or not you have a problem at your marina.

Put your multimeter in the "DC Voltage" position. With the motor tilted up, touch the red wire to your zinc and put the black wire in the water. Be still and let the voltage steady up. If there's a current leakage from your boat, this should detect significant voltage. You should read <1 volt. If you're reading anything much higher than that, you've probably got a corrosion problem.

Once you've done a DC voltage check, switch to "AC Voltage" and read that voltage as well. AC voltage will not appear in DC mode and vice versa, so you need to check both.

If you read a DC problem but not an AC problem, your boat is the issue. DC doesn't travel far enough for anything else to be at issue. If you read an AC problem but not a DC problem, the issue is the marina.

If your multimeter has DC current and AC current modes, Move your test probe leads to the current position and check current in the AC and DC positions as well, using the same procedure. In this particular case, checking current with a multimeter is easy because the multimeter is in the circuit. It's usually much more difficult in electronic circuits. These numbers should read <2ma total. Any higher than 10ma is a significant problem.

IF YOU HAVE COPPER BOTTOM PAINT then there will be constant current between your copper paint, through the saltwater, to your zincs. The very first battery invented was made of nothing but copper, salt water, and zinc. The combination of the three creates constant galvanic corrosion, and I'm a bit shocked that I've never heard of anyone pointing this out in a boating environment. For this and environmental reasons, you should use non-metallic or zinc-based bottom paints. Here in San Diego Bay there's a lot of free copper ions in the yacht basins, and the 26M across from my slip's lower unit looks like swiss cheese because of it.

Here's a much more detailed testing procedure, the equipment for which most people will not have.

http://www.boatquotes.com/abyc.htm

[BOAT]

My oh my, motor stuff - gee wiz that sucks that his motor is rusting away. Is that going to happen to all of us?? I don't like motors! I sure hope there is an answer to his problem. You guys can make the rusting stop, right? Why do motors need to be such a hassle? I hate them.

Motors suck!

[seahouse]

Sorry to hear this story. I had the same problem as well. At first.

To easily eliminate one trouble source initially I checked the neighbouring boats with a clamp ammeter. It's fast and easy, and if they are present and you word it right they will consider that you are doing them a favour. When power is being used on the boat, clamping around the shore power cable should show zero current because the current going into the boat equals the current leaving the boat when all is well. If there is a difference it means there is current leaking somewhere into the water or ground and there is a problem. (Note if the readings are high it is a serious situation as there is a potential to kill swimmers nearby, which has happened). It was all clear on all the boats around me, so that problem source was eliminated.

Some other ways of making this assessment might not always be conclusive, because you will always have voltages present between dissimilar metals, and if some readings are close to a baseline threshold it can be hard to tell if it's normal or corroding.

Knowing there was a bigger problem, as a stop-gap measure I cleaned the corroded areas, used a zinc chromate green-type primer underneath Tremclad automotive paint. It slowed it (by an amount that surprised me) but that was all, and all I expected.

I also keep the motor tipped up when not in use, but part of the lower unit still dips into the water. Also, part of the mounting bracket and tilt motor also remain immersed.

Tilting the motor out of the water actually raises the anode on the lower unit out of the water, which renders it useless, of course. In addition to that, the anode on the mounting bracket (which is partially hidden) is also high and dry, making it useless as well. For the anode to be effective it must be in the water, and electrically continuous with both the water and what it is meant to protect.

I solved the issue by making an electrode from the largest magnesium anode the store carried and drilled a hole in it to fit onto the motor mounting bolt, cleaned the contact surfaces to ensure electrical continuity, and used a nut to screw it into place. That anode is in the water at all times, and now protects all the components that are in electrical contact with it, which is pretty much the entire motor. No more corrosion after that. Problem solved.

Note that I am in magnesium-appropriate fresh water. If you are in salt water you will want to use zinc, or similar, instead. That is one of the differences between the two.

Also note it is important that copper-based anti-foul coatings (which I have on my hull) be used without coming into contact with any metal parts or fittings on the boat, for reasons which I think are obvious.

-Brian.

[March]

What about disconnected the batteries when you don't use them? That wouldn't apply to recharging the batteries at the marina, of course... but I wonder if the length of time when you keep actually motor around, recharge the batteries with solar power, or actually sail would add up to enough time to corrode an engine over the summer.

If the batteries are disconnected, I'd venture to guess that not much juice would be lost in the shuffle... and you could also start the engine with what you have left.

For me, it's never been an issue. Replaced the electrode at the 5 year revision point, and everything seems to be going okay--no bottom paint, and I sail mostly in sweet water.

Just wondering...

[mastreb]

Disconnecting the battery may help or it may hurt, depending on the particular conditions of your marina. It may actually have a detrimental effect because a large grounding reservoir (the negative side of the battery, connected to the engine) can provide a measure of what's called "cathodic protection" by being able to absorb small currents.

If you don't have any problems right now, don't change what you're doing. I personally keep my boat on the hard, so my boat shows no issues.

[BOAT]

All this motor stuff is too complicated. Now I'm gonna worry about my motor rusting away. I assume the motor is not gonna get holes in it if I keep the boat out of the water, right?

( Hi Seahouse! Have not heard from you for a awhile - I lost those plastic shims you made for me - I think I left them at Matt's house after drinking too much beer -)

This is crazy, back in the "olden Days" we just used little 5 and 10 HP motors on the back of the boats - we used to take the motor off when trailering! They were small and light and I don't remember a lot of rusting and holes. After a few years if you needed to buy another it was cheap. Now? GEEZ! Motors with computers and big starters and batteries and stuff stuff stuff too complicated to understand and they have a mortgage on some of those big Merc jobs!. You know what those big black 90 HP Merc jobs cost! Yeah! A friend told me what he paid! He coulda bought a Harley!

I dunno.

[seahouse]

Yeah BOAT, I'm subject to the same “forum cycle” that everyone goes through. Gung-ho enthusiasm for a while, then tempered at times by life's other priorities. And also I've been active on some other (not sailing) forums which dilutes my posting time on any one forum. And there are some tech guys, and others active on this forum that have a pretty good handle on how things go, so my contributions would often be redundant anyway .

But I'm still checking the posts, and always look forward to seeing your input, particularly your insightful observations about boat design. Maybe you're just going to have to work your way back to Matt's and help him out with his beer turnover rate if you want your shims back.

[mastreb]

( Hi Seahouse! Have not heard from you for a awhile - I lost those plastic shims you made for me - I think I left them at Matt's house after drinking too much beer -)

I still have them, although the same thing may happen again.

[seahouse]

( Hi Seahouse! Have not heard from you for a awhile - I lost those plastic shims you made for me - I think I left them at Matt's house after drinking too much beer -)

I still have them, although the same thing may happen again.

[Mac26Mpaul]

Have an 07M with an 06 built blue ETEC 50 and I had to replace the 'lift unit' also. Took it to the Mercury dealer just around the corner and he told me that its common with all brands of outboards that are on boats that live in the water for extended periods. He said they do a lot of them. He also told me that it is an internet myth that the blue ETEC is for fresh water and the white is for salt water and the only difference is the colour which makes sense because we don't have all those great inland fresh water lakes here in Oz and they just wouldn't bother importing an outboard designed for fresh water! I was also told by a BRP mechanic on the ETEC owners group that the only difference is the colour.

Blue came with the boat but I'd buy white if buying new because it would match the boat. My boat is at the Mercury dealer at the Marina around the corner again because I was having some fuel issues, which I'm told is just the fuel pump. Other than that, it had an issue with the oil cooler when it was about 4 years old but BRP replaced it free because apparently they had had a recall. Other than that, it has been a GREAT motor, always starts first go every time, quite, economical (at low revs), and only ever used in salt water including a period of about a year straight when it lived at the marina (which is what caused the lift unit to corrode and part of the mount, and is common with all outboards that live in or very close to salt water).