[TowerTalk] Mast galvanizing

[J. Kincade]

The 23' long, 2" OD, 3/16" wall 4130N mast has been galvanized and I'll pick
it up this weekend. Just for info for others considering doing this, the
galvanizer charged $0.40 per pound for galvanzing with a $100 minimum. This
means, of course, that at about 70 lb, or $28 each, I could have done
several of these at once and saved some serious galvanizing money. I thought
of doing just that, but wasn't sure I could find buyers for the other three
or four. My cost total was $125 for the tubing plus $100 (the minimum) for
the galvanizing. If I had done four, it would have been a total of $500 for
the tubing, plus about $112 for the galvanizing, for a grand total of $612 /
4 or about $153 each. Could have had 1/4" wall for about $7 per foot instead
of the $5 per foot for the 3/16, if I had wanted to deal with the 140 lb
weight. Using 1/4" would have resulted in a total of $644 tubing cost, plus
$224 galvanizing cost, or $868 total / 4 = $217 each, assuming all were 23'
long. All in all, a very reasonable cost per mast for chromoly, when you
consider what they cost to order from TT or others. I'm throwing all this
out because somebody else doing this in the future might be well advised to
collect several interested folks within driving distance and order and
galvanize 4 or 5 of these at a time, and everybody makes out. I'd have done
that but didn't find any local interest in it, so I bit the galvanizing
bullet on the single piece of tubing. Still came out cheaper at $225 than I
could have done from TT or others, mainly because of the horrendous shipping
costs for single masts, plus ended up with a 23' mast instead of a 15' or
17'. Also, I predrilled the tubing with a drill press top and bottom before
galvanizing. The top hole (9/16") is for a 2000 lb working load galvanized
eyebolt, the bottom (9 mm) is for the "pinning" bolt on the Yaesu G1000DXA
rotator. Doing that resulted in 100% zinc coverage, vice drilling after
galvanizing and leaving bare steel to generate running rust. Incidentally, I
measured the TB-3's ID, and there is PLENTY of clearance there to slide a 2"
the mast through - at least a sixteenth, maybe a little more. Zinc coating
is only a few mils.

Next comes trying to prop up, temp guy, and plumb 3 sections of 45G (less 3'
down in the hole/gravel) with the mast strapped inside, without killing
myself or any of my friends. It can't be THAT bad, the whole thing only
weighs about 280 lb. Getting close to concrete time after that.
73 to all, Jerry W5KP


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