trolling motor corrosion

[BillyBoy23]

Hey guys. So I have a brand new Minnkota Maxium wth U2 sonar. I fish P2 most of the time and have started to notice really bad corrosion already. It has built up on the main bolt holding the blade and the three small screws holding in the transducer. Does anyone have any idea on why this would be happening? Also what is a good way to keep myself protected from this?

-bill

[CAMAN]

Is it rust or white in color?

[BillyBoy23]

It is a white color. It looks like it bubbles up. Kinda like dried toothpaste.

[SpecialK]

White lithium greese maybe?

[BillyBoy23]

any idea what could cause that?

[CAMAN]

It sounds like electrolisis. Make sure all your electrical connections are 100% correct. If they seem right call up Minnkota you may have internal electrical issues with something not grounding right maybe.

[BillyBoy23]

ok. I will read up on that. If the connections are wrong....since I did just buy a new battery this year am I to late with fixing stuff? If I have this corrosion did my I wreck my new motor?

[jeffreyd]

should not have but you need to make sure your grounds are correct, clean and tight. it does not hurt to put an epoxy or silicon over the top of them after they have been secured. the other thing i would check is to make sure they used stainless steel screws to mount the stuff. if they are galvanized they will rot away pretty quick.

[CAMAN]

the other thing i would check is to make sure they used stainless steel screws to mount the stuff. if they are galvanized they will rot away pretty quick.

I would have thought that also but being there are two totally different parts (transducer screws and prop shaft) its pretty doubtful they both would have been made of the wrong material. That is unless MK is starting to cost cut with their materials, and if that's the case they will be losing customers pretty darn quick if this is what happens.

I doubt you damaged the motor, you may have damaged the bearings on the outside of the housing but those are normal wear and tear items anyway and should be an easy fix if down they road it does go bad.

Maybe someone could answer this question for me - Do these motors have a sacrificial zinc anode on them somewhere that may have gotten missplaced?

[kg2]

Bill, do you have a 36-volt motor that uses the crank battery as one of the trolling motor supply batteries? If yes, make sure battery #1 (the one the crank negative is hooked to) is battery #1 in the trolling motor circuit, too.