Project Spotlight: Navajo Lake Marina Expansion (AZZ Galvanizing – Chelsea)

Navajo Lake State Park, just a short 40 miles east of Farmington, New Mexico, is the ultimate playground for adventurers. With 150 miles of shoreline, New Mexico’s second largest lake is the perfect getaway for boating, sailing and fishing enthusiasts.

Designed, manufactured and installed by Marine Development Inc (MDI), the newly expanded Navajo Lake Marina now includes more than 600 slips with over 100 mooring balls for rent. Metal structures located in or near bodies of water are some of the most challenging applications to protect from corrosion. Water hardness/softness, temperature, impurities, ph and movement of the water all play a role in the aggressiveness of corrosion.

The principles for MDI have been building boat docks, slips, marinas and other water structures for over half a century. As far back as the 1960’s, the most effective protection from corrosion for these water applications has been hot-dip galvanizing (HDG). Some of MDI’s earliest galvanized structures are still in use today, a reoccurring testimonial to the cost effectiveness of HDG.

HDG is the process of metallurgically bonding zinc to steel. Properly prepared steel is dipped in a kettle of molten zinc where zinc and iron alloy layers form over the steel surface. Once the coating is complete and the steel has cooled, the thin, durable, well adhered zinc coating is ready to take on a myriad of corrosive applications.

The galvanic series lists metals by their electrochemical activity in seawater. Metals higher on the list are sacrificial to the metals that are lower on the list when electrically connected. Zinc is higher on the galvanic list than steel, so zinc will provide sacrificial protection to the steel when the two are connected and exposed to an electrolyte (water/moisture). The zinc coating slowly sacrifices itself over time while providing decades of maintenance free protection in countless water applications.

You won’t hear many complaints from environmentalists regarding the use of HDG coatings in or near water as there is no harm to our most essential resource and no impact on aquatic life. Zinc already exists in the water as well as within every living creature. MDI will continue building these attractive, floating, recreational facilities and hot-dip galvanizing will continue to provide that small, but vital role.