Inhibitor for rusty O/B bolts

[fender22]

Hi all, I have a couple of bolts on my putboard under the bracket in an awful spot to get at. The paint has peeled off sometime ago before I got it and the bolts aren't terminal but they are corroding. I asked my mechanic to replace them but he said they are better left alone for now. It would be a major task to get at them and would possibly shear off if he tried to undo them. It's not even possible to get at them properly enough to give them a good go with a wire brush and repaint. Is there something I could spray / coat them with that would penetrate the metal and give it some protection? I've been hitting it with CRC after every trip,

[tigermullet]

Lanolin grease or spray (or both) might be your only hope. I cannot think of anything else and even that might not work too well.

Lanolin is supposed to penetrate but I don't know how far or how long it will take to make any difference or slow down the problem.

We use it just about everywhere on the motor and it has also protected the stainless steel roller pin from corroding the surrounding aluminium on the bow roller (very large) for close on ten years. It's a great product.

[SunnyCoastMark]

Hey Fender22,
If you can get a screwdriver or bent piece of fencing wire in there to remove/scratch off the worst of the corrosion - do that first.

Then hit it with some fisholene (either spray or wipe on) - this will prevent further corrosion as it is a residual coating.

Products like CRC and WD40 are good for penetrating, but they are not residual and run off pretty quickly.

Hope that helps,

Mark

[wags on the water]

Try some Penetrene.

[Manjilad]

A good case for a "rust converter/inhibitor then paint/lanolene/ or any of the above. Cheers

[Roughasguts]

How about wiring them up with S/S wire straight to a zinc anode, one you already have or a new one.

Hopfully the anode will prevent further rusting of the bolt.
But then again it might do nothing seeing as the boat isn't constantly in water.