Thought I'd pose an interesting question for the aluminum hull experts on this forum. I sold my Marinette a couple of years back, went the fiberglass route, sold that. Looked at other Marinettes- just haven't found the right one. However, in the meantime - the wife wants to spend more time on the water and wants another Lazy Days aluminum hull houseboat. Yep, I know ...but I've had one before ...and it ain't all that bad - like anything else, they have their good points and bad points. And I haven't given up the Marinette search - just haven't found the right one for us - should have never sold the one I had.

Ok, so here's the setup. On Lake Lanier where I boat, it's full of aluminum hull houseboats and virtually none of them have bottom paint or anodes and you rarely here about electrolysis issues. I never paid attention to any of this until I had my Marinette. And then the obvious question was, why do the 70ft, 80ft, ...etc. houseboats never have an issue - yet us Marinette owners are so concerned? When I asked my surveyor about this his answer was the exposed surface area of a houseboat is so large that it dramatically reduces effects of electrolysis. That and there's fewer dissimilar metals applications on a houseboat than a Marinette. No through-hull shafts and no trim tabs. However, they do have through-hull intakes for the mains and genset. The mains have outdrives and those do have anodes.

Ok, ...now to my question. The 66ft Lazy Days houseboat I'm looking at buying has a freshly painted hull - very uncommon. The owner wanted to be super super sure that electrolysis was never a problem - and I believed he achieved that. But here's the 'rub' ...literally. On Lake Lanier, one of the main advantages of owning a houseboat is that you can beach them on one of the numerous sandy beach islands on the lake. However, with this boat, if I beach it - I'll end up rubbing bottom paint off a small part of the hull - and my assumption is now I will have a potential electrolysis issue since only a small section is exposed.

For you experts that know this topic like the back of your hand - should I be concerned or not?


/Clint

Thanks Dave, appreciate the quick reply. Is it safe to say that since only the very forward edge (bow) will likely be exposed - and since that is 50+ feet from any thru-hull (brass), the only real concern would be from stray current at the dock?

/Clint

Aluminum in air is fine, the problems begin with water and different metals along with electrical problems on your boat, your neighbor's boat or even the marina and its systems. Aluminum under water is usually acid primer etched, primered and coated with a non copper antifouling paint. Electrical isolators are on your shafts, their couplings, cutlass bearings, steering to the rudder, the rudder and its cutlass bearings and piping connections. Direct ground to the batterys all your electrical appliances and never use the hull as a ground connection.