I'm 51 years old. I built one to stop bank erosion in a stream at a change in level and direction at my parent's house about 30 years ago. All units are fine.

I'm 51 years old. I built one to stop bank erosion in a stream at a change in level and direction at my parent's house about 30 years ago. All units are fine. They sit at least 1/3 height in water all the time and have soil/subsoil behind. They have a thin pour of mortar with gravel on top to make a path and have integrated into the bank and grass. Galvanized steel is surprisingly rust resistant and that's the key. These gabions do get quite a bashing when it rains hard. The stream in question is in Devon, Woodbury (Salterton), near Exeter (UK), which is popple land. Popples are rounded stones found in the streams thereabouts. They make ideal gabion fill. They also destroy things downstream if the flow is fast enough to rouse them! That's one case study that I've chosen deliberately to show that they work for DIY.