Pitted Stainless Steel Water Strainer

[Donzigo]

I thought I would share some information I learned today with you. Maybe someone can add something else so I can learn even more about it.............I headed off for blue water yesterday in Big-D (my 1989 Z-33) and as I always do, I take off across the bay at high speed for 1,000 yards; then, I raise the hatch to take a look before going any further. OMG - I saw that there was a good sized leak below the sea strainer. (they came with the boat in 1989). I noticed on my last polishing of them one year ago, some pitting at the bottom center and thought it would be fine as long as I watched it. Well, the thing just disintegrated in my fingers when I touched it and now it has a 1 inch hole in the bottom of the strainer. Today, I took it to my favorite fabricator of alumimium and stainless steel things and he told me that when he sees pitting like that on an old piece, it means the stainless steel in rotted or othewise needs to be thrown away. I hda no ides that SS had a shelf life. He said that if he put a torch to it, there would be spider cracks all across the bottom of the sea strainer.

AMAZING!!! I did not know that Stainless Steel can decompose after 20 years.

[Tidbart]

Hey Richard,
Long time......, too long.

Anyways, it depends on the type and quality of the stainless used. Take a look at some people's SS gas grills. Some get rusted badly, others look good forever.
Only other thing I can think of is electrolysis.

Bob

[Donzigo]

Bob,

Hey there, my freind.

Send me your phone number or call me 727-709-2918

[DonziJon]

Stainless Steel is pretty bullet proof...except for "Crevice Corrosion". Put SS in an environment where oxygen is excluded..like an airtight joint between two SS components or maybe even a porous SS weld joint...and you "can" get crevice corrosion.

The other alternative is..the unit is Chrome Plated Steel or Chrome Plated brass that has gone "punky"... and is not stainless at all. If you mix SS and brass, you can get accelerated corrosion in the brass. Sometimes a magnet can tell..but not always. Some SS is magnetic.

[G-MAN]

Thats why the call it stain"less" and not stainproff steel.

[MOP]

Stainless is an extremely poor metal for sea strainers, for many years a lot of the sea chests on the larger yachts from over seas were stainless. Even those with a zinc anode and decent grounding into the system died and early death, I see so many guys buying the bling strainers and I just sit here shaking my head, they might just as well use rubberized cardboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cuda]

Bob got it. There are several grades of stainless.
The strainers on my Formula were bronze.

[thehow33]

Bob got it. There are several grades of stainless.
The strainers on my Formula were bronze.

These are the best and longest lasting kind. they usually have zinc and tin in them. so depending on who made it they may call it brass or bronze. I have one that is made out of a naval brass and the bowl is plastic.

[Cuda]

These are the best and longest lasting kind. they usually have zinc and tin in them. so depending on who made it they may call it brass or bronze. I have one that is made out of a naval brass and the bowl is plastic.

Mine came with the Formula, and I didn't see anywhere that Formula skimped. The retail price on it was $140,000, and that was 1986 dollars. The dealer who had it was a dickhead, and it never sold. The guy that bought it before me bought it with 42 hours on it in 2000. I bought it in 2002 with 242 hours on it. It was all bronze, so was the bilge pump that was mounted on a sidewall with a hose going to the bottom of the bilge.