Purpose of anode on engine raw water intake

[LifesBetterWhenYoureBeating]

Hi everyone,

When I bought my boat it had a bonding bar connecting some thru hulls and the rudder. I've recently got rid of that but didn't realize that there was an anode (a rod fitted on a bulb-like thing) in-line on the engine raw water intake hoses. Now that I no longer have any underwater metals connected, I'm wondering what purpose that anode serves?

Thanks in advance!

[LifesBetterWhenYoureBeating]

@boatpoker I remember you gave me good advice on other threads related to corrosion (prevention), so I thought I'd ping you here. Hope you don't mind

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by LifesBetterWhenYoureBeating

Hi everyone,

When I bought my boat it had a bonding bar connecting some thru hulls and the rudder. I've recently got rid of that but didn't realize that there was an anode (a rod fitted on a bulb-like thing) in-line on the engine raw water intake hoses. Now that I no longer have any underwater metals connected, I'm wondering what purpose that anode serves?

Thanks in advance!

Do you have a photo of this "rod fitted on a bulb-like thing in-line on the engine raw water intake hoses"? An anode fitted in-line in hoses would not do much, so I am having trouble picturing what and where this is...

[Statistical]

It is on the thruhull itself or attached inline to hose. As prior poster I can't see any possible utility to have it line with the hose (i.e. [seacock] <--- hose ---> [anode thing] <---- hose ----> ).

[LifesBetterWhenYoureBeating]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

Do you have a photo of this "rod fitted on a bulb-like thing in-line on the engine raw water intake hoses"? An anode fitted in-line in hoses would not do much, so I am having trouble picturing what and where this is...

Sure, here are some pics

[LifesBetterWhenYoureBeating]

Originally Posted by Statistical

It is on the thruhull itself or attached inline to hose. As prior poster I can't see any possible utility to have it line with the hose (i.e. [seacock] &lt;--- hose ---&gt; [anode thing] &lt;---- hose ----&gt; ).

I have about 1m of hose from the seacock to the strainer and immediately after that I had this

[Statistical]

Looks like the most unusual methods of immersing an anode in sea water to provide an anode point for a bonding system. I guess the one advantage of this over an external hull anode would be that you could replace the anode while boat without getting wet. Points for creativity for whomever thought it up.

Since you are no longer bonding anything I would just get rid of the entire thing.