The ZECA System is a proprietary anti-corrosive and barrier coating system for the protection of aluminium alloy hull immersed surfaces - specifically allowing the use of copper-based anti-foulings such as Altex Supernavi AF 619 and AF 633.
Not all alloy hulls are suited to this application and on no account should the system be used on stern-drives or outboard motors.
It is well recognised that the use of copper anti-fouling coatings, even bronze fittings, in direct connection with aluminium in the presence of an electrolyte such as seawater can cause massive corrosion and depletion of the aluminium.
It is less well known, but nonetheless not uncommon practice, that copper based anti-fouling coatings can be applied to aluminium hulls as long as there is an efficient dielectric (electrically insulating) coating between the aluminium substrate and the copper anti-fouling.
The safe performance of such a coating system depends entirely on the insulating coating remaining intact and not allowing direct contact of both the copper and the aluminium with the common electrolyte - seawater.
Obviously as minor in-service underwater damage areas add up, exposing more and more aluminium, the risks of aluminium sacrificial corrosion increase with this simple 'insulation coating' concept.
Until the development of the ZECA System, originally in Canada in collaboration with the Alcan Aluminium Company, there was no coating system that provided a high level of protection for aluminium hulls using copper based anti-foulings - essential for increased hull efficiencies and decreased docking frequency.
In 1988-89 the Alcan Company smelter in British Columbia installed the ZECA System on their freight and passenger ferries and have since then continued enjoying the benefits of copper based anti-fouling protection to the present day.

The ZECA System retains the principle of installing an efficient water-barrier and dielectric coating but has the added advantage of a unique primer, the lynch-pin of the system - ZECA Primer.
The unusual chemical and physical qualities of the ZECA Primer give added protection when the underwater protective and anti-fouling system is breached to the aluminium substrate. Working vessels subject to underwater damage, such as fishing vessels, mussel harvesters, work barges, landing-craft etc. are offered advanced security and protection between extended dry-docking times.
The final tested 'ingredient' for the ZECA System is the importance of deploying only pure zinc anodes, not zinc alloy anodes or aluminium alloy anodes.
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