Here is a (possibly) stupid question...
If you are going to epoxy a piece of shiny polished aluminum next to the saltwater, won't the saltwater corrode the aluminum to the point that polishing it won't be worth the effort?
I don't think that the corrosion would really affect the strength much for quite a long time though...
I suppose that if you coated the entire thing with the epoxy to keep the salt air off it, this wouldn't really matter much.
