Keeping rust at bay when you're near the ocean

The only thing that’s lasted is this thick elastomeric roof coating I used as an experiment (meant for flat roofs, not fasteners), but it looks terrible and is a pain to apply.

Been there - my last “experiment” with elastomeric turned my vent pipes into something out of a sci-fi movie. Effective, but ugly enough my neighbor asked if I was prepping for a hurricane. Zinc-rich primers do seem promising in theory, but I’m skeptical after seeing how even “316 stainless” gets chewed up out here. At this rate, duct tape might be the only truly marine-grade solution...

I get the skepticism - coatings always seem like a compromise between looks and longevity, especially near saltwater. I’ve seen zinc-rich primers hold up decently on hardware, but only if the prep is perfect and you stay on top of touch-ups. Even then, salt air finds a way in. Honestly, I’m starting to think mechanical fasteners with plastic or rubber caps might be less hassle long-term, even if they’re not pretty. Stainless just doesn’t cut it out here, no matter what the spec sheet says...

Stainless just doesn’t cut it out here, no matter what the spec sheet says...

Yeah, I hear you on that. I used to think stainless was the magic bullet for anything near the coast, but after a couple years, those screws on my deck started showing rust streaks anyway. I tried the whole zinc primer + topcoat routine on some rail brackets - spent way too long sanding and cleaning everything first. Looked great for about a year, then the salty fog did its thing and I was back to square one.

Ended up switching most of my exposed fasteners to those plastic-capped ones you mentioned. Not the prettiest, but honestly, they’ve held up better than anything else so far. If you’re picky about looks, I found you can paint the caps to match trim and it’s not super noticeable from a distance.

One thing that helped: I started rinsing hardware down with fresh water every couple weeks during the worst of the salt spray season. Not a cure-all, but seems to slow things down a bit. It’s just constant maintenance out here... sometimes feels like a losing battle, but at least the deck’s still standing.

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to deal with rusted-out fasteners on coastal jobs, even when the specs called for 316 stainless. On a few roofs, those “marine grade” screws still started bleeding rust after a couple years. Always ends up being a call-back headache.

I’ve actually had better luck with the coated screws too, especially the ones with the plastic or rubber washers. Not perfect, but they definitely slow things down. The only thing I’d add - sometimes those plastic caps can get brittle in the sun after a while, so I keep some spares handy just in case.

Honestly, rinsing things off helps but I don’t always have time to do it as often as I should. Around here, it’s just a fact of life that anything metal outside is going to need attention sooner or later. Sometimes feels like we’re just buying time until the next round of maintenance. If there’s a silver bullet for coastal rust, I haven’t found it yet...

Sometimes feels like we’re just buying time until the next round of maintenance.

That’s pretty much my life story since moving closer to the beach. I tried “marine” screws on my deck rail and they still got those lovely orange streaks after two summers. Now I slap on a dab of clear nail polish over the heads - my wife thinks I’m nuts, but it actually slows the rust down. Not a perfect fix, but hey, it buys me a few extra months of denial before I have to break out the drill again.