Galvanic corrosion experts?

[The gurg]

i'm looking at adding removable rod holders to my h20b. I do my fair share of saltwater fishing, so i'm kind of concerned about creating a galvanic corrosion reaction from the metal of the rod holder if I get one in the wrong type of metal. Is there anything specific I should be looking for material wise for the base and rod holder?

i'm currently looking at a driftmaster rod holder with stainless shaft and then round surface mounts by fishbite to put them in. (still waiting for answers about threading and ensuring it's stainless from them)

http://www.driftmaster.com/Rodholders.html
http://fishbiterodholders.com/index....roller=product

[slonezp]

Why not go with a Scotty plastic holder

[The gurg]

Why not go with a Scotty plastic holder

I thought about it, but I'm just not a fan of them. my friend had some on a small skiff, and I just thought they felt cheap.

[slonezp]

Understandable. They have a couple different styles. The quick draw and the ones that lock. The locking ones are designed for trolling and are a bit beefier than the quick draw. That being said, I've used both styles for years without issue.

[maker of things]

I am not an expert, but as I understand it, as long as your outboard's zinc annode is not corroded away you should be fine. If the mount bases are stainless (they appear to be) or anodized aluminum and the rest of your boat isn't corroding I can't imagine why the mount bases would be any different. If they were just coated/plated mild steel, then you would likely have problems.

[The gurg]

I am not an expert, but as I understand it, as long as your outboard's zinc annode is not corroded away you should be fine. If the mount bases are stainless (they appear to be) or anodized aluminum and the rest of your boat isn't corroding I can't imagine why the mount bases would be any different. If they were just coated/plated mild steel, then you would likely have problems.

thanks for the reply. I did a bit of research over the weekend and it seems that no matter what, as long as there is direct contact between aluminum and stainless (or just about any other metal), there will be a reaction. The zinc's on the outboards help a ton but the biggest thing to do for the rod holder base itself is to limit the metal on metal contact. I read that if I put a Teflon pad between the mount and hull it will break the contract (I have that line-x type coating on the top so it shouldn't matter anyways). it's also recommended I put "Tef-Gel" on the threads before I screw them in. This is also supposed to break the metal on metal contact that would be caused by the screws.

All this is probably overkill anyways but boats are so damn expensive to replace.

[Byrdmen]

You probably don't want to hear this, but Xpress used a ton of stainless screws into the aluminum hull. Your console probably has 20 screws into the aluminum deck.

Using plastic and TefGel is a great idea. When I work on mine I will pull nearby screws and replace them using TefGel to head off problems down the road.

Why not rig something up on your T rails that you can take off after each trip?

[The gurg]

You probably don't want to hear this, but Xpress used a ton of stainless screws into the aluminum hull. Your console probably has 20 screws into the aluminum deck.

Using plastic and TefGel is a great idea. When I work on mine I will pull nearby screws and replace them using TefGel to head off problems down the road.

Why not rig something up on your T rails that you can take off after each trip?

haha as I read the article about it, that's all I could think of. I have faith that xpress put that tef-gel on it before hand, but chances are they didn't. it almost makes me wish I just got the standard aluminum stuff instead of the stainless packages. slightly ironic that I paid more for the stainless at this point.

and are you talking about the clamp type for the gunwale? I think those half-dollar mounts would look a lot better and be easier. ive done a few hours of research on the corrosion potential, and i get the impression that it wont be an issue for as much as i use it for saltwater as long as i use tef-gel and mitigate the direct metal-metal contact between the different metals.