Has anyone heard of trying to stave off galvanic corrosion on the Barth by attaching a marine-grade zinc anode somewhere?

My storage compartments are taking the brunt of the corrosion burden, at least that I can see. And I'd like to find a way to stop it once I remove the damage.

-James

'87 Barth Regal 25', Chevy 7.4L

In my opinion, you have identified the Achilles heel of the Barth coaches. With all aluminum construction, floor and above, we see very little corrosion. Below the floor the skirts and compartments have steel framing. A sad choice.

Most of the corrosion repairs I have seen and done were to storage compartments and doors, battery boxes, and lower side skins. On my 86 it appeared that the steel frames were separated from the aluminum skins by only a couple layers of what looked like duct tape. After a while many of the lower frames were very corroded. Whenever I repaired areas, I made sure the steel was epoxied into place to prevent direct contact with any aluminum.

It would be great to find a way to reduce the galvanic corrosion. Isolation and low humidity are desirable, anodes could work, but where to place them?

Some high tech systems put an electrical charge on the chassis, not sure if that would work with our metal to metal corrosion problems.

A good topic to discuss!

From what I can find, the correct anode for a Barth would be something like Navalloy which is an alloy of zinc, aluminum, and indium.

As to where to place it, I'm not sure. I know that I've got corrosion on my compartment exteriors, so I imagine that would be an option.

But what would be the ideal location(s)?

Would one in each corner inside the aluminum skin work?

Or are the compartments' steel boxes isolated and in need of their own anode?

Some folks I've read about, with aluminum hull boats, stick with very good paint and leave it at that.