# Galvanized frame question



## whitley1983 (May 21, 2020)

Hello, I recently built a frame with galvanized fence posts and Tee's from Lowes. I was just curious if anyone out there who has built similar frames would recommend doing anything for corrosion protection at the point of the set screws or where I cut the ends off? I also drilled holes in both the Tee's and the piping for quick disconnect pins.


----------



## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

Just remember, fences are out side 24-7 for decades, your raft frame will be around water at most a couple weeks per year  I would just let it ride.


----------



## NoCo (Jul 21, 2009)

Looks good. Im sure someone will chime in about weight. Usually that person carries 200lbs of cast iron cook ware. That frame will be good for years.


----------



## whitley1983 (May 21, 2020)

Yea I understand the weatherproof properties of the galvanized fence posts which is one of the reasons why I figured it would hold up as well as the aluminum. I was just curious if anyone had noticed over time if the area where the Zinc coating was disturbed by the set screws or drilled/cut ever began to rust and if anyone did anything like intermittently painting that section with a zinc primer. Also, I made a 5 bar frame with a kick bar with two pieces of 1/2 inch plywood over the row and passenger bay and me and my pregnant gf can pick it up very easily so it's not very heavy at all, but it was def less than half the price of aluminum!


----------



## whitley1983 (May 21, 2020)

Oh and she's super pregnant


----------



## liltownhero (Mar 22, 2017)

Please tell me that you're counting that 3 inch gap between your foot bar and your crossbar as the "5th bay".


----------



## liltownhero (Mar 22, 2017)

Nvm I see you said 5 bar not bay. My mistake, looks good


----------



## NoCo (Jul 21, 2009)

I have a friend who grows his pins and clips backwards like that, but its cause his frame is welded and was made for an udisco. Usually you want to pull against the pin, stirrups forward. On your frame you might want to slide your oar towers. But I've seen others run their clips backwards. No one has ever satisfied me with an answer to why they do it.


----------



## k2andcannoli (Feb 28, 2012)

I would get some cold galvanizing paint, spray cans are available at most hardware stores. Any spot the coating was damaged will begin to rust.


----------



## whitley1983 (May 21, 2020)

NoCo said:


> I have a friend who grows his pins and clips backwards like that, but its cause his frame is welded and was made for an udisco. Usually you want to pull against the pin, stirrups forward. On your frame you might want to slide your oar towers. But I've seen others run their clips backwards. No one has ever satisfied me with an answer to why they do it.


Hey thanks, first frame set up here, I read that you should set up the pins and clips the way you described and I guess I just didn't think it through when I put them on, after thinking about it I def see that I have them backwards! I positioned the oar towers on the frame to be inline with my knees as I saw on a DRE tutorial video, is that not where they should be located? Also I was unsure about what angle the oar tower should be positioned at? Thanks for your help!


----------



## MontanaLaz (Feb 15, 2018)

Galvanized paint will do exactly nothing for set screw location rust. The screws will cut through the paint as soon as you tighten them up. It would help at the exposed ends where you made cuts though.


----------



## AbnMike (May 14, 2020)

Just FYI the frame that came with mine was galvanized and used set screws and some holes. It was built in 2004 ish?

Here’s the rust.

Edit: Sorry that picture isn't as great as I thought - bottom line, there's almost 0 rust at all in the drilled hole and a faint smidge where a set screw was. There was none on the cut ends.

This raft and frame lived a hard, uncovered life outside, too.


----------



## djtechman (Jun 2, 2018)

I ran a similar frame setup for 2 yrs, just replaced with expensive aluminum one this spring.


I never worried about painting the screw/bolt holes, but I did spray the ends with cheap spray-primer.
I saw some rust, but never enough to make me worry about the metal's integrity.


The posts I got from the orange creepo store were flimsy and they collapsed under the grub screws when I tightened them (the connector supplier said to torque them to something insane like 30 ft-lbs, not happenin!)
This worried me, so I replaced the poles & some of the screws with bolts that go all the way through. The lack of strength also made me nervous, but I didn't do a lot of whitewater in those first years anyway.
My biggest complaint about this metal was how it turned my rubber black, took quite a bit of elbow grease and 303 to scrub that off.
Your setup & the connectors look much nicer than mine! Love the yellow!


----------



## Buddha09 (May 15, 2014)

This photo is from 5 years ago. I just did this same trip a few days ago. The frame is the same now as it was then. It’s over 10 years old. No rust. Haven’t used any paint on the metal.


----------



## Etexag (Jun 30, 2020)

Galvanized materials will likely only rust at Higher pH or where it comes in contact with a different kind of metal resulting in Galvanic Corrosion. I would assume most rivers are below that pH. Just rinse it off regularly and it will last forever.


----------



## Mtsnowrunner (Jun 11, 2017)

whitley1983 said:


> Hey thanks, first frame set up here, I read that you should set up the pins and clips the way you described and I guess I just didn't think it through when I put them on, after thinking about it I def see that I have them backwards! I positioned the oar towers on the frame to be inline with my knees as I saw on a DRE tutorial video, is that not where they should be located? Also I was unsure about what angle the oar tower should be positioned at? Thanks for your help!


The recommended angle I’ve seen and used is 22 degrees or 68 degrees depending on how you measure it. Row frame has some information on his site.


----------

