Policy
Care & maintenance
Aluminium does not rust, but it does corrode when it is neglected. The schedule below is the whole difference between a hull that lasts thirty years and one that needs plate at eight.
Every trip
Rinse the boat with fresh water — deck, gunwales, engine bracket, keel strip and the area behind the anodes. Salt left in a seam is what starts pitting, and it takes four minutes to wash out.
Flush the outboard or the raw-water circuit, and look in the bilge with a torch. A bilge that stays dry is a hull that is not working; a bilge with water in it is a problem to find, not to pump.
Monthly
Check every anode, including the ones on the engine bracket and the trim tabs. Replace at 50% loss, not at 100% — in the Gulf’s warm water they can go from half to gone in six weeks.
Look for white powder around stainless fittings: cleats, ladder brackets, rod holders, engine bolts. That is galvanic corrosion starting, and the fix is a nylon washer and a bed of sealant.
Every season
Touch up any paint damage down to bare metal with an etch primer and a topcoat. A scratch that reaches metal will pit within weeks and grow under the paint edge where you cannot see it.
Check the keel strip, the chines and the transom welds. On a boat that is beached or loaded over a quay, these are the parts that work hardest.
Annually
Haul out, pressure-wash, inspect the hull below the waterline, and replace the anodes as a set rather than individually. Check the wiring loom for chafe and the fuel system for hose condition.
On surveyed boats, keep the inspection schedule your surveyor set. On private boats, we recommend a hull survey at five years and every three years after that — it is cheaper than discovering a problem from the wrong side of the waterline.
Last updated: 1 November 2026.