Galvanic corrosion question

[Goblin]

I got a travel cover made for my hewescraft last summer. The fellow that did it never put plastic washers behind the snaps or tefgel. Some of the paint behind a few of them is starting to bubble. I only hit the ocean with it a week or two a season but want it protected. Should I drill out all the rivets and redo with plastic washers and tefgel. I kinda thought the fellow that did the top would have put something behind them. He's done a few aluminium boats. Also what zincs do you guys use for fresh and saltwater.

 

[TheBigGuy]

Probably a good plan, it will only get progressively worse. There are also plastic snaps sold, but I'd imagine they'd break easily.
Another thing you might want to consider is using anodized aluminum fastners. They are a bit hard to find, but they wont cause dissimilar metal corrosion. They don't have high tensile strength, but most minor bonds don't need high strength. Not sure if they have anodized aluminum machine screws, but I bought a good selection of small aluminum nylock nuts and bolts online.

 

[SteelyDan]

One thing that will help big time is fill the heads of the snaps with clear silicon. Only thing I've found that helps.

 

[finaddict]

One thing that will help big time is fill the heads of the snaps with clear silicon. Only thing I've found that helps.

That is brilliant.

 

[OnTick]

My snaps have a tef washer under them, not the best finish, but then the lady used the wrong size imo. It has worked though, no corrosion, but I will be replacing a few in the not too distant future. Prob just use TefGel on the next ones, that stuff is great.