Re: [Paddlewise] Stainless hardware (and aluminum)

Corrosion from dissimilar metals is a real problem around water, 
particularly salt water. It is not a good idea to have mixed metals in this 
kind of environment. If I remember correctly from my sailing and aircraft 
maintenance days, the metal that is lower on the periodic chart will be 
sacrificed in this kind of situation. In the case you present, weakening of 
the aluminum will be accelerated.

I would recommend that you rework your rudder cables with all stainless 
parts, particularly if you're around salt water and don't rinse the 
equipment with fresh water after use. There are stainless cable clamps that 
might be a better choice than the aluminum sleeves. I don't know if 
stainless sleeves are readily available offhand.

I once made a set of clad aluminum hinges for a locker on my sailboat and 
assembled them with stainless hardware because I was too cheap to buy 
stainless hinges. I had to replace the aluminum parts within a year. Caveat 
- the boat was in salt water year round.
YMMV,
Dave G.
Poquoson, Va.

At 01:36 PM 11/7/2002 -0800, Evan Dallas wrote:
>So just one quick question on the mixing of stainless and aluminum.  When I
>last replaced my worn-out rudder cables, I used stainless cable, but
>connected it to my rudder using little aluminum sleeves that you loop the
>cable through, then crimp to hold the cable tight.  Is this kind of
>connection likely to fail prematurely?  (I actually did have one fail
>already, but I assumed that was due to using a little too much force on my
>crimper).  What would be a better way of attaching the stainless cable?
>
>Evan
>Woodinville, WA


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