Anti-Corrosion Bags Live Up to Claims, But So Does Ziploc

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Our test of anti-corrosion bags presented conditions far more rigorous than what one might typically encounter for equipment stored on a boat.

Our testers estimated that the exposure test was the equivalent of five years of exposure aboard a boat. Although the test demonstrated that a DIY solution using sandwich bags can nearly match performance, it also demonstrated that the makers claims of five years of protection could, in practice, be accurate.

1. Bags lying on the compost. The anti-corrosion bags are amber and have a slightly rough texture.

anti corrosion bags

Drew Frye

2. After a year in the Zerust bag, the compact disk was okay, but the aluminum coupon was corroded.

anti corrosion bags

Drew Frye

3. Corrosion was visibly on every coupon in the bag that was left open to the weather. The protective bags did not stand out as testers had expected.

anti corrosion bags

Drew Frye

4. The coupons in the Zerust bag fared better than the exposed coupons.

5. Spent silica beads (pink, on left) indicate that the beads are doing their job absorbing moisture. Recharged (blue) beads are on the right.

Darrell Nicholson
Darrell Nicholson is editor emeritus of Practical Sailor. He is a longtime liveaboard sailor and has logged tens of thousands of miles in three oceans. A winner of dozens of writing awards in disparate genres, he currently edits Marine Electronics Journal for the National Marine Electronics Association. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton Master license and sails his S&S-designed Yankee 30, Opal, out of St. Petersburg, Florida. He can be reached at darrellnicholson.com.