The Memorial Day weekend was not a three-day vacation for everyone, but even those unfortunate souls who had jobs to perform Monday afternoon enjoyed themselves. Particularly at the Oak Harbor Marina.

Marty Malloy and his son, Francis, were able to enjoy the water and the sunny weather while working.

The pair own the Water Worx company in Oak Harbor and were hard at work on a task that is vital to marina operations.

“We are installing sacrificial zinc anodes on the galvanized pilings to keep them from corroding,” Marty Malloy said.

Malloy explained that the salt water creates an electrical potential and corrodes the pilings.

“If we didn’t have the zinc anodes strapped on, these babies would rust right through,” he said.

Working off the dock, Marty lowered the required materials to Francis who was in full dive gear connecting the zinc plates to the pilings with stainless steel straps below the surface of the water.

“We are local contractors and we save the city a lot of money by having the work done locally,” Malloy said. “The city supplies all the material and we do the installation.”

Malloy said the plates last about three to five years before they need to be replaced.

“There are 420 of them so what we do is replace 25 percent of them every 16 to 20 months,” he said. “The length of time depends on the salinity of the water and the boat traffic. The exposed metal on boats’ hulls also creates an electrical potential so if a boat is tied up for a long period of time, that would have an effect.”

After three days on the water Mary Patterson, who said she is from Oak Harbor and Astoria, Ore., and “floats back and forth,” and her husband, Jim Morris, said they had spent three wonderful days in their boat.

“We put out from the Oak Harbor Marina Friday and went up to Hope Island,” Patterson said.

“It was kind of rough up there

and we weathered the storm on the buoy at Hope,” Morris said.

Patterson agreed the waters around Hope Island were very rough.

“We stayed on the buoy two nights and then we went to Cornet Bay because it was calmer over there,” she said. “While we were at Cornet Bay, we listened to the herons. The great blue herons have a rookery over there and they talk a lot. It was a wonderful weekend on the water.”