I have had it cleaned back to metal from time to time and it certainly has a matt SS appearance rather than a bronze type colour.It has no signs of surface corrosion and has a pair of anodes on the same cross bolt.I inherited these.I apply Trilux every year.I haven't tried it with a magnet.I have read of the limitations of stainless used below seawater level - at the moment it is happily doing it's duty and apparently in good structural order..

Peter

rascal my 26 is like your a Baker built (50), but was originally an outboard motor in well powered, I strongly suspect yours was too, as most early 26's were. So doubtful the skeg is original.

My skeg sounds like yours and I assume is stainless steel, never any sign of corrosion.

A few years ago I bolted a ss angle to it as the stop for a rope cutter and that (lesser grade ss I suspect) did corrode so I protect it with a small annode which I need to replace most years.

Philip

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There, that should do it. You could probably settle Queen Mary 2 on that and it wouldn't bend! Might knock a tenth of a knot or so off my cruising speed though...

Duly anoded and Triluxed as well.

If I'm allowed to, I'd like to put in a good word for Latbros Marine, the folks who did the metal fabrication and welding, who are based at Hayling Yacht Company's yard at Mill Rythe on Hayling Island. Stas and Slava were fantastically helpful and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

Thanks again Peter and Philip.

As an additional point, I do not have any issues with corrosion although I do have an anode bolted through the keg, That is mainly to help protect the brass outer shell of the cutless bearing, which is attached to the keg by a long grub screw bolted through a tab on the piece of bar stock and contacting the gutless bearing. I also don't have any real issues with fouling. I use the same method I use on my prop. hot liquified lanolin, brushed on and lightly flashed over the surfaces with a heat gun until it 'curtains' then apply another coat of hot liquified lanolin once the first coat has cooled and set. I have been doing this for the last five years and works a treat and costs next to nothing. A 500gm block of lanolin on eBay is about £12 and lasts for years, I keep mine in metal mug (camping mug) which is easy to heat the surface wit a hot air gun and have a dedicated old brush that lives with the mug of lanolin. I keep it topped up from time to time with another chunk of the lanolin which comes in a heavyduty poly bag. It works very well on my prop which is feathering prop with stainless steel blades in a bronze housing. It does not cause issues with jamming the blades and hub together which antifoul paints could do. Just lather it on over the whole lot!

Hi Graham, just saw your post, I can confirm that it is stainless steel (grade 316). I also used to find mine bent over when I used to keep the boat on a drying mooring. Being only 3mm thick, it would not be able to stand up to a strong wind pushing her around just as she was settling onto the bottom. I solved the problem by removing the 3mm keg and replacing it with a 10mm skeg which I profiled and polished to an aerofoil section. I also installed a piece of 13mm x 25mm 316 stainless bar on the 'U' shaped fitting first, which extends aft and which I cut a 'V' in to act in place of the fixed part of a rope cutter as I figured it was stronger than attaching the original 'stop' to the piece of GRP tube acting as the shaft log.

Hi Martin - Apologies, only just noticed your replies. Thanks very much, that's all really good information, and it's interesting that someone else has has the same problem!