In a message dated 99-03-10 11:23:05 EST, w2gd@hotmail.com writes:
> Also of some concern is the effects inposed by constant 20 mph trade
> winds, which over time, seem to act as a sand blaster, causing
> accellerated deterioration of surfaces on the east side of the tower.
>
> Proposed Solution: Find a paint product that can be applied (by brush)
> to my used but rust free Rohn 25G sections that has a high adherence
> characteristic, provides significant resistence to abrasion from wind
> driven sand, and protects the steel tower from corrosion caused by salt
> residue buildup.
>
> I hope someone has a "silver bullet" solution, a suggested paint product
> will meet or exceed my needs, and can tell me where it can be purchased
> in the USA.
You don't want much, do you? Talk about your "worst case scenario". At
least yours lasted longer than the hardware at CT3BH (?) which I think lasted
a season.
What commercial sites do is to use some sort of commercial coating when
the galvanizing goes away. It takes some work - you have to completely prep
the sections before you apply the coating - but should give you some more
service life.
A popular material is a special epoxy. What you need to do is to call an
industrial coating supplier and see what they recommend. A real good marine
paint in several coats might be good but your experience with it wasn't that
great. It obviously takes more PM.
In any case, I would get something that you can put on in a thick coating
or several thin ones. I think you're going to have to be satisfied with
limited service life in those conditions and do a good PM every year. If you
do regular scrapping and painting like they do on ships, you'd stay ahead of
it and the layers of paint would be a pretty good cumulative coating. Just
plan on doing it every year or two.
How about putting some split PVC over the legs in the windward
direction? Couldn't hurt.
Cheers, Steve K7LXC
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