Zinc Replacement

jeremyandalison

New Member
Apr 20, 2009
71
Ivy Lea Ontario - Thousand Islands Region
Boat Info
300 Sundancer 2006 (2009 to present)
260 Sundancer 2003 (2009 to 2009)
Engines
5.0L Mercruiser/BIII
Hi Guys,

I've got a "new" 2006 300DA arriving in a few weeks and the marina where I bought it pointed out that it could use new zincs on both BIII drives. They quoted $950 for this, but it seems to be a DIY job - I'm pretty handy around the house, plumbing and electrical no problem, but I'm new to boat repairs.

This seems like a no-brainer to me - anything I'm missing that would make it worth $950?
 
Hi Guys,

I've got a "new" 2006 300DA arriving in a few weeks and the marina where I bought it pointed out that it could use new zincs on both BIII drives. They quoted $950 for this, but it seems to be a DIY job - I'm pretty handy around the house, plumbing and electrical no problem, but I'm new to boat repairs.

This seems like a no-brainer to me - anything I'm missing that would make it worth $950?
That had to be an april fools price - or there is alot more work in the quote like pulling the drives - changing fluid - scraping and spraying with anti-foul - etc,etc,etc - and its still a rip off! - You can buy all the zincs you need for both drives and the tabs for $100 from boatzincs.com and properly install them yourself in an hours time
 
didn'tdoit is right....the annode replacement is a DIY task. While you're doing the annodes, inspect the Mercathode reference electrodes for each drive. They are mounted to the bottom of the hydraulic hose junction block for the tilt cylinders. The electrode, (about the size of paper clip wire) should be intact and not corroded.

If they were replacing all the annodes, and both Mercathode controller & reference electrodes....with labor, yeah...that might eat up a grand.
 
No way for just anodes. 100 bucks and less than an hours time gets the job done.
 
Damn! $950 for that where you can get for $100---- errrr, Umm, wait, I can beat his price, I can do for $850!! I'll throw coffee mug and t-shirt both value at $9.99, for FREE to u!! LOL

$950 is waaay ripoff. You can do it yourself and they are usually $100 range..
 
I am in fresh water thus I use magnesium anodes. I have twin Bravo III drives, circa 2003 so I have one anode over the propellers called the cavation plate 'trim tab' anode, you will have two of these on each drive. I do have the Propeller Nut with Magnesium Anode that I added.

Two weeks ago I purchased 2 kits of Bravo III anodes plus 2 propeller nut anodes, no trim tab anodes from boatzincs.com

My total from boatzincs.com without trim tab anodes was $188.00

In total it took about 2 1/2 hours to install them and I did not do the trim tab anodes, just the drive trim tab anode, two different things.

Just a few issues I had during installation:

The cavation plate 'trim tab' anodes, I reused the existing hardware / bolt. I have no clue who sells a giant, straight, super long allen wrench to tighten the allen bolt they provide for this anode. I used a socket and socket extension and reused the existing bolt and the boatzincs.com new cavation plate trim tab anode.

One of the two front (bow most) cavation plate anode from boatzincs had a extra piece of flashing on the anode and with this flashing it would not slide inplace to be tightened. I tried and tried but the bolt would just not go thru the hole, the anode needed to slide on about another 1/8” and I did not have all my tools with me. I had to go get a hack saw and manually remove the flashing on the anode so it would fit. It was the anode from boatzincs.com that was defective because it was the first of the two I was installing. I used the other anode and it went right on, the one just had some flashing and it needed to be removed.

Total job was about 2 1/2 hours and this does not include me fixing the one anode with the flashing. Getting into my vehicle, running to Home Depot, standing in a long Saturday checkout line, buying the saw, driving back to the marina and fixing the anode added about another 1 ½ hours. So in total it was a 4 hour job.




Also there is more then one area that calls themselves 1000 islands. I don’t know where you are located.

map_ontario_newyork.jpg


I am going to assume you are in update New York since that is the #1 result in Google when I do a search on 1000 islands.

If you are in this upstate New York area you are in fresh water so you should also be using magnesium anodes, not zinc.
 
Last edited:
Note: I assume you are in FRESH WATER

If you do this yourself, and it’s a relatively easy job, you will need a socket set with some extensions, an Allen wrench kit and two of this kit:

Bravo III (2004+) Magnesium Anode Kit $91.02 EACH

Kit includes:

76214-4M Mercruiser Flat Trim Tab Magnesium Anode (no threads)
76214-5M Mercury/Mercruiser Flat Trim Tab Magnesium Anode
821630M Mercruiser Bravo Plate Magnesium Anode
806190M Mercruiser Bravo Lift-Ram Magnesium Anode (Qty 2)
865182M Mercruiser Bravo Propeller Nut Cone Magnesium Anode Bravo III (2004+) Anode Mounting Hardware Kit

Link:

http://www.boatzincs.com/bravo3-mag-kit.html



bravo3-2004-kit.jpg


Mercury-Bravo-III-Design2-mag-SD.jpg


Installation Instructions
http://www.boatzincs.com/pdfs/bravo3-installation.pdf
 
Last edited:
What about Brackish water? How do I know if my new boat came with Zinc or Magnesium?
 
What about Brackish water? How do I know if my new boat came with Zinc or Magnesium?



I’ve had people tell me that they can hold them in their hand and tell.

Magnesium is lighter but the difference is not that great. I say that there is no easy way to tell if a used anode is zinc or magnesium.

To answer your question, there are aluminum anodes that do a OK job in both. Boatzinc.com sells these also. This is what I would use in brackish water.

http://www.boatzincs.com/mercruiser-aluminum.html

Note: I am not a fan of aluminum anodes in fresh water only situations. The protection is borderline adequate for fresh water, too close for my comfort.

Again, just my opinion.
 
Thank You, it says all Mercrusiers with SS props were delivered with Aluminium from 2001 on.
 
Just a few issues I had during installation:

The cavation plate 'trim tab' anodes, I reused the existing hardware / bolt. I have no clue who sells a giant, straight, super long allen wrench to tighten the allen bolt they provide for this anode. I used a socket and socket extension and reused the existing bolt and the boatzincs.com new cavation plate trim tab anode.

I use one of these (the link might not be the correct size) on my ratchet with an extension.
 
Update,

Spoke to the marina to ask why the $950. They say it includes anodes on both drives, plus they sand and repaint the entire drive prior to installing the zincs. Also offered to do it for $600.

Considering the boat is being splashed for delivery, I will not have another opportunity to change the anodes unless I pay for haul and relaunch later this summer.

All told, $600 is looking not so bad now. Any thoughts?

I'm thinking Magnesium for the clean fresh water of the St. Lawrence River at Ivy Lea. We only have the odd turd that floats all the way down from Detroit
 
Update,

Spoke to the marina to ask why the $950. They say it includes anodes on both drives, plus they sand and repaint the entire drive prior to installing the zincs. Also offered to do it for $600.

Considering the boat is being splashed for delivery, I will not have another opportunity to change the anodes unless I pay for haul and relaunch later this summer.

All told, $600 is looking not so bad now. Any thoughts?

I'm thinking Magnesium for the clean fresh water of the St. Lawrence River at Ivy Lea. We only have the odd turd that floats all the way down from Detroit

Here is a chart from Boatzincs.com:

http://www.boatzincs.com/pdfs/Which_Anodes_Should_I_Use-Chart_Merc-B.pdf
 

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