Just wondering a good way to keep cables/ bolts and screws from corroding from salt water use? I do wash the kayak every time after I take it out but i was wondering if anyone has tried coating the screws or cables with a marine grease or something else?
If you are using it every day
in salt water, sooner or later the stainless fittings and cables will rust.
That is why I keep a supply of all my metal rudder parts and pieces and every type stainless screw, bolt, nut and washer on hand at all times
jack L
SS
Are you even using marine stainless fittings? Just a fresh water rinse after paddling my ruddered boat and its ss fittings are fine. Maybe once a season I clean them with a bit of WD40. That boat is 18 years old. If you’re not using marine stainless stuff, regular hardware store fasteners will go to heck in a hurry.
Tri-Flow and White Lithium Grease
Is what I used last Summer to lubricate ss cables and fittings on a Fenn surfski. Got 2 oz. bottle of Tri-Flow and small grease tube from a small hardware store in the Rittenhouse Sq. area of Philadelphia before launching ski in the Schuylkill River. If I found a bicycle shop first, I’d buy a plastic bottle of that synthetic Century lubricant that has kept all my rudder cables tarnish free for years. I also like Pedro’s Oil, Moly bearing grease and that slimy silvery Permatex anti-seize with a brush when they are conveniently available.
Finish Line
famous Scandinavian lube !
http://www.finishlineusa.com/images/big_FL_TEF_US_4oz_MA_1312_CRC_RGB.jpg
use with locks, slides, bicycle cables and chains, and kayak rudder cables, bolt/screw heads, rudder slides assemblies on a Wenonah Solstice Titan
lube has a emulsifying effect on application for example on a bicycle cable, a few drops at cable end frees the entire cable action.
The lube protects Wenonah’s SS hardware better than Ace’s. No West SS to use on…
West Marine may have your specific product but FL has the field here.
Aerospace 303 is tops for buckles and strapping/shock cords.
other options
316 stainless will rust less quickly than 18-8 which is likely on there.
you can buy 316 stainless hardware at mcmaster-carr or a good marine supply place.
you could also switch to titanium if you like spending money.
spray the hardware with, boeshield, 303. or LPS.
Boeshield
– Last Updated: Sep-25-15 8:43 PM EST –
BS is widely criticized, often ridiculed, in cycling as a weak, thin, easily washed away film best used indoors.
303 remains but dulls. The dulling isnot an indication of washing off only dulling. Using 303 on the vinyl grille of my black nosed Ford E250, with a well cleaned surface to liberally spray onto, and a several dry days of hot sunny weather for curing, 303 will dull on the first rain but stay stuck for several months during temperate weather.
Have not tried 303 on metal hardware preferring a wax compound. With a very clean windshield, cleaned with Meg's red bottle car wash or Palmolive diluted...2 squirts per gallon....rinsed with bottled water...and clean wioers, Check your wipers for bumps.
303 goes on during a rain thereafter with that clean windshield. NO DRIVING INBETWEEN. Spray 303 on the wiper blade swing motion centers, spread overflow with a grocery bag on your hand and operate wipers.
The result is amazing. 303 fills the myriad small crevices and cracks bringing complete new glass clarity into view.
corrosion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion
aluminum and stainless results in the above galvanic action. You have to rinse you kayak and really wash with some soap to remove salt. I spray rudders on my Current Designs kayaks with 303. You can buy rust remover for SS at a boat yard / marine supply. You can really rinse a kayak or boat thoroughly and return later to see salt still there when dry so I like soap if possible.
interesting reading in
– Last Updated: Sep-26-15 6:34 AM EST –
'how remove salt from boats
'corrosion inhibitors'
and a wiki: surfactants
I work in a boat storage area on the Gulf...never see boaters using 'soap' post float only water...free water. Soaps et AL happen during 'periodic cleaning.'
With the kayak, salt after water is obvious and then necessary for more than water. If the hull stores with salt on it then salt falls off at night in the garage between 2AM and 4.
303 allows a wipe off. I guess if a soap or surfactant were used the 303 would leave. Leave sooner.
During a wash off, does chlorine fix salt onto gel coat or surfactant ?
Yes, someone recommended WD 40...hehehe...