Today my friend Pentaman returned to the boatyard to give his Volvo outdrive its new paint job. I'm happy to say he got it right (almost). My spy camera picked up the shot below today at about 3 PM.

With a close zoom I can see that for primer he's using Interlux Primocon Grey. This is really the perfect primer for this job, and although not zinc based as I mentioned in an earlier piece on this topic it is the perfect match for the anti-foulant he's also selected, Trilux 33. Rather than use zinc, Interlux uses Aluminum alkyls as one of the active ingredients and it is rated as an excellent primer for aluminum. Of course in the photo below you can see that neither the sprayman or Pentaman are wearing proper eye protection or respirators, a serious no no when working with any of this stuff. Throw-away gloves are also highly recommended.

Over the Primocon, he's going to apply Trilux 33 which contains no cuprous oxide, but rather cuprous thiocyanante, a powerful biocide. So the saga ends, and aside from the interface between his gimbal housing and the anti-foulant on the boat's hull, and his personnel safety habits (or lack thereof) it looks like he's going to have a properly protected aluminum drive unit afterall. Not sure what happened to his original can of Krylon my spycam caught on day one. Maybe he sensed it. Anyhow, as long as the two fellows below live through breathing the stuff as they spray away on this breezy day, the drive will survive.

Well it's back to raining here in Rhode Island so my friend Pentaman won't be available today to finish off the paint job on his Volvo outdrive. If you've missed my last two posts, we've been tracking his progress with this big job. So, it looks like Monday I'll be able to get you the final results of his work as the forcast looks good weather wise.

Today, I want to talk about one of the most important safety devices on your boat if you have living / sleeping accomodations. I'm referrring to a CO monitor.

 Now most people think of CO poisioning as only being associated with gasoline fueled engines, and it is true that they are the big emitters. but that said, all engines exhaust varying amounts of CO. Really, anything with a flame on it or in it produces some CO. On boats this is a big issue because the space is relatively small.

So now, if you are reading this and saying, I'm good, my 7 year old boat is equipped new with a CO monitor, I'm good to go!

NOT SO FAST.............. Most people are not aware that these units have a limited life span, ranging from 3-5 years with the units I'm familiar with, several of which are shown below:

The two models shown above are made by FireBoy Xintex and are probably the most popular units used in the boating industry. The owner's manual that comes with these units is quite clear. The very first sentence reads: "WARNING: Failure to replace this product by the "REPLACE BY DATE" printed on the alarm cover may result in death by Carbon Monoxide poisioning. Replace by date is five (5) years from the date of manufacture. It doesn't get much clearer than that. These units have a finite life span.

I should warn you that not all units have the 5 year life either. I've installed some that had a 36 month span.

By the way, just because the unit in the upper picture here looks like the smoke detector in your house, don't confuse the two. They are entirely different units that sense different things. There is no cross-over.

Don't take a chance people. Check your unit out today. If you don't have one or more of these units on your cabin boat, get one!

We'll have to wait until tomorrow for my update on "Penta man" my Volvo IO painter. He appears to have finished sanding the unit down and hopefully today will be priming the unit. I'll report as soon as I see fresh paint happening. For now, some exciting news came across my desk yesterday regarding ValvTect gasoline fuel additives. It certainly sounds like good news to me. When you first read the press release that follows your immediate reaction may be that it is self serving on the part of ValvTect. Well it is sort of, but the thing to remember is that they used third party testing to some really tough standards to get their results. This adds a high degree of credibility to their claims. I know I'm going to be trying these additives in my engines this year based on these findings.

Here's the press release:

VALVTECT COMPLETES ETHANOL TESTS

ValvTect Petroleum, the largest supplier of marine grade gasoline and diesel fuel in the nation, announced the results of its most recent laboratory tests to determine the effectiveness of ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment to prevent ethanol-related problems.  The findings determined that ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment was effective to help prevent the three most serious ethanol-related problems that affect boaters: storage stability, corrosion and phase separation.

In an independent laboratory test, using the same ASTM (American Society of Testing Materials) protocol used by gasoline refiners and engine manufacturers, ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment almost doubled the stability (storage life) of the E10 ethanol-blended gasoline.  "This is exceptional performance, especially since one of the industry's most widely used ethanol treatment additives only improved the stability of the E10 by 20% in the same test," said ValvTect president Jerry Nessenson.

ValvTect reports that ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment completely prevented corrosion in a National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) corrosion test, while the competitive product tested did not prevent corrosion.  "Components in an engine's fuel lines, carburetors and injectors are made of a steel alloy that can corrode when using ethanol or even non-ethanol gasoline," said Nessenson.  "There are wide-spread

reports of corrosion that can be avoided with the use of an effective ethanol gasoline treatment, such as ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment."

In the ASTM moisture control test, ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment retained more water and ethanol in the fuel than the untreated E10 or the competitive product.  "This is an important feature that can help prevent phase separation," said Nessenson.

"These test results prove the effectiveness of ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment to help prevent the most common ethanol related problems," said Nessenson.  "Boat owners should not be afraid to use E10 ethanol gasoline if they use an effective ethanol gasoline treatment, such as ValvTect, and apply good fuel system maintenance."

ValvTect Ethanol Gasoline Treatment is available in aftermarket containers for boaters that fill-up at gas stations.  It is also used to formulate ValvTect Marine Gasoline that is only available at Certified ValvTect Marinas nationwide. 

          For more information, contact ValvTect Petroleum Products.  800-728-8258.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ;  www.ValvTect.com.

Yesterday I discussed some of my observations as I watched a fellow preparing his outdrive for a fresh coat of paint. As I mentioned yesterday we need to track his progress over a few days. As of last evening it appears he's done all the sanding he's going to do. As I mentioned he's got sections of the drive right down to bare aluminum, so a proper primer is going to be a must unless he wants to deal with the color coat lifting off the metal sooner than later. A close up of the drive last night clearly shows the bare aluminum.

So now the real question is, what will he use for a primer coat? Will it be one of the zinc based paints I mentioned yesterday, or just some basic automotive primer. I'm betting he'll use the wrong paint. Why? Well in the photo below, right next to where he's working, my spy camera caught a look at a Walmart bag with some paint in it.

I immediately recognized the label on the can showing through the plastic bag. Krylon paint. Not that Krylon doesn't make a good product, but its the wrong stuff for this job.

Tomorrow I'll let you know the final result of this if the fellow shows up today. Its actually sunny for a second day in a row here in Rhode Island, so there's a good chance I'll catch the end of this outdrive ruination today. 

Well the monsoon season here in Rhode Island is finally over (we think) and only about 25% of the state remains underwater. But, today the sun came out and things are finally beginning to hop here at the marina where my office is located. So, I got my spy camera out today and caught this fellow getting ready to do the deed to his outdrive. I like his style, radio blaring, brought the lawn chair along and looking comfortable while he gets ready to do potential damage to his rather expensive Volvo Penta outdrive. We're going to have to keep an eye on this fellow probably through tomorrow because he got my attention with his moves so far, and they're some of the wrong moves.

In the above photo I see things that many people would not give a second thought to, so I have to share so you don't make similar mistakes. First off you can clearly see the blue masking tape around the perimeter of the drive unit. That tells me he's going to be applying some paint to the drive unit soon. He's been sanding away on the drive unit for the last few hours or so and I can see bare aluminum showing in some spots. Issue # 1 is the sanding itself. This drive unit is covered with soluable salts because I know the boat stays right here in salt water. If he is going to apply paint to the drive unit he needs to be certain the soluable salts are removed first if he expects the paint job to last. That means washing the drive thoroughly with a readily available salt neutralizer like Star brite "Salt Off". Sanding without washing first just drives the microscopic salt particulates into the surface of the metal. Eventually they will be the cause of a small osmotic blister that will begin to lift the paint away from the surface. Ultimately the blister will burst and expose the naked metal to the seawater. Corrosion begins right after that. So the process goes this way: Wash with salt neutralizer. Then sand loose paint and scuff surface. Solvent wash to remove all paint dust and traces of oil. Mask off areas where you don't want paint. Prime with a zinc based primer from either Tempo Products, or Moeller. (Zinc Chromate or Zinc Phosphate). Finally, once the primer dries, you can add the color coat, which is readily available for all of the popular outboard and IO drives.

Back to the tape. I can see that historically the boat's anti-foulant paint was brushed right up next to the IO drive housing. This is wrong! There should be a 1" separation between the edge of the anti-foulant and the drive housing. Since many anti-foulants contain cuprious oxide (copper based) we don't want that coming in direct contact with the drive metal, as it can induce corrosion at the interface. So when I look at a masking job for an outdrive, I want to see the tape all the way around the lower portion of the drive unit as well as where you see it in the above photo. Stay tuned, I'll check on this fellow later and see if I learn anything more about what sort of paint etc. he's planning to use.