Zar mini dinghies corroding???

[landonshaw]

Does anyone have a Zar aluminum bottom dinghy? I am looking at the 9 ft. Flat bottom aluminum bottom. They might all be aluminum, I don’t know.

I am in the Caribbean and it is in the water year around. My concern is will the aluminum subject to corrosion? The person selling it, new, is saying that the marine grade used has more zinc so it is not subject to corrosion.

Please let me know only if you have experience with this brand. I am well aware of aluminum corroding in salt water.

Thanks

[admiralslater]

Originally Posted by landonshaw

Does anyone have a Zar aluminum bottom dinghy? I am looking at the 9 ft. Flat bottom aluminum bottom. They might all be aluminum, I don’t know.

I am in the Caribbean and it is in the water year around. My concern is will the aluminum subject to corrosion? The person selling it, new, is saying that the marine grade used has more zinc so it is not subject to corrosion.

Please let me know only if you have experience with this brand. I am well aware of aluminum corroding in salt water.

Thanks

I saw one the month and the aluminum bits look the same as my highfield dingy. I hav had no issues to Year’s in

[BILLYBYEPOLAR]

I had a Highfield for 6 years and I never had any corrosion issues with it. I am looking at buying a Zar Mini 11'er. I hear that they are much better than the Highfield.
Anyone have any experience with the ZM?
Billy

[KD8NPB]

Highfield and ZAR are both made in China out of unknown spec materials.

You don't want Zinc in marine alloys, otherwise the saltwater strips the zinc and you're left with weak porous material. This is the same case in the brass vs bronze debate.

All aluminum hull boats will corrode severely if the powdercoating is not maintained, or if a copper based antifouling is applied. You can possibly mitigate it by drilling / grinding a spot down and riveting / screwing on a zinc anode.

[BILLYBYEPOLAR]

I agree with you and thank you for shariing that great bit of information. The only thing that I disagree with is the place where they are made. From my understanding, the Highfield is a Chinese company called "Hi Fie" and are made there, but the Zar is an Italian company and the boats are made in Germany. Do you have knowledge to back this up? I forgot where I read it.
Thanks,
Billy

[billknny]

Originally Posted by KD8NPB

All aluminum hull boats will corrode severely if the powdercoating is not maintained, or if a copper based antifouling is applied. You can possibly mitigate it by drilling / grinding a spot down and riveting / screwing on a zinc anode.

Well... NO. Not really. You don't have to sail around very much in the world to see that there are an awful lot of aluminum boats with totally unpainted topsides. (It is usually a French thing!)

But there is a lot of BS thrown around here. There are many different alloys of Aluminum. Some are very well suited for salt water exposure (5083, for example), others are not. The person who told you that marine grade Aluminum alloys contained zinc was blowing smoke out his ass. There ARE aluminum/zinc alloys but they are certainly not marine grade.

There are a LOT of reasons to buy or--to not buy--an Aluminum hulled RIB. Thinking it is going to corrode out from under you is most certainly NOT one of them.

And recommending adding a zinc to an aluminum hulled dinghy just is silly. Zincs protect against galvanic corrosion between two dissimilar metals. I am pretty sure the dinghies we are talking about are ALL aluminum, so a zinc does nothing.

One last thought... The outboard you are strapping to the back of that dinghy has almost ALL of it's submerged parts made of Aluminum. It needs a zinc, because it has other metals too, but your aluminum dinghy will outlast your aluminum outboard.

[KD8NPB]

Originally Posted by billknny

Well... NO. Not really. You don't have to sail around very much in the world to see that there are an awful lot of aluminum boats with totally unpainted topsides. (It is usually a French thing!)

Anodized aluminum looks like bare aluminum, but it has much better corrosion resistance because it already has been pre-passivated with an oxide layer.

The zincs are moreso to protect against electrolysis from stray currents, which is where I see the majority of premature corrosion.

[KD8NPB]

Originally Posted by BILLYBYEPOLAR

I agree with you and thank you for shariing that great bit of information. The only thing that I disagree with is the place where they are made. From my understanding, the Highfield is a Chinese company called "Hi Fie" and are made there, but the Zar is an Italian company and the boats are made in Germany. Do you have knowledge to back this up? I forgot where I read it.
Thanks,
Billy

The construction of the hull is the standard pattern for Chinese aluminum RIBs, as well as the tube is constructed with lots of Ningbo-Bravo origin bits and pieces.

What makes you think they're built in Germany?