2005 Merc Bravo 3 Drive Corrosion issues.

[BlueH20Boss]

Before i start, i know this may be in the wrong section, but this forum seems to get the most looks so redirect it if necessary, i just wanted to see if anyone had any insight to this problem. My dad has a 2005 Formula 280ss with twin 6.2 mercs with bravo three drives. Usually, we can go the season where we are on one set of zincs, sometimes two. My dad pulled the boat last year, the zincs were in bad shape, but not gone, and the boat was stored for the winter. Well, he did not get to put it in the water as early as usual this season, and i was out doing some work on the boat the other day, and noticed his outdrives, mainly the lower units. Corrosion and electrolysis has severely damaged both of the skegs on the outdrives, a well as took some chunks off of the planer section. This boat has never been run aground, and the outdrives have never hit anything. Both drives have good amounts of their metal 'flaking' off for a lack of better description. It comes off black merc paint and some metal if agitated with a hose or brush. I broke the horrific news to him the other night, and now i am researching on what caused this, what our possible solutions are, and i am basically reaching out to anyone here if they know if corroded drives can be repaired, or have to be REPLACED. Also, anyone with insurance insight on this would be appreciated. Is this something he can file a claim for? Thanks in advance.

[neilinov]

Boss:
This is electrolysis. I had an issue with it a couple of years ago with a badly grounded transformer that the marina had installed right behind my boat. Check the other boats that are slipped around your boat for damage to see if it is happening to them. More than likely your marina is "hot". It will f'ing destroy the lower units. As far as insurance goes there is usually an exclusion for electrolysis in most policies so no go there unless you have a policy that doesn't exclude the damages. You can sue the marina for the damages if they are aware of the problem and are sticking their head in the sand refusing to deal with the issue. Best advice is to change marinas until the problem is fixed or move slips to a less damaging area of the marina.

[BlueH20Boss]

thanks for the infor thus far. I am fairly knowledgeable with electrolysis and i know another guy on the dock had issues with it one year and threw one of those huge zincs in next to his boat, but we never monitored it as closely as we should have, and last season it bit us in the ass. These drives are in pretty rough shape, the lower skeg portion at least. 130k boat it kills me to see this happen, because we take good care of the boat, this just snuck up so quickly. Any know of REPAIR methods? sueing the marina sounds great, but it sounds far fetched to actually win a case in. Any other suggestions guy? Thanks.