[TowerTalk] Mast coatings

[Stan or Patricia Griffiths]

Hi Eugene,

I just took down a steel mast that has been up since 1973 (28 years).  I bought this
mast so long ago that I don't know the alloy but I remember specifically asking for a
strong one . . . it could well be 4130.  Anyway it is 2 ich OD, 0.219 wall, 18.5 feet
long and weighs 84 pounds.  When I put it up, I cleaned it with paint thinner and
painted it with Rustoleum paint.  You have to remember this was 28 years ago and it was
the kind of Rustoleum paint that was available then . . . not paint-on galvanizing like
you can get now.  I also ran a thinner soaked rag through the inside of the mast to
clean all the oil and grease out of the inside.  After it dried out, I then ran another
rag, several times, saturated with Rustoleum through the inside of the mast to coat the
inside with paint.  Anyway, this mast looks great to me.  Yes, there is some surface
rust where the paint has worn thin over the years and some places where it has been
scratched but this only amounts to discoloration on the surface.  I plan to repaint this
mast and install it in a different tower.  This mast has a least another 100 years in
it, at least in my environment, which is rainy Oregon, inland from the Pacific Ocean
about 75 miles.

After this experience, I would never consider going through the trouble of galvanizing
it even though there is a galvanizer about 10 miles from here and I get sidemount
hardware and other stuff galvanized all the time so it would not really be a problem to
get it done.  I just don't think it is worth it under my circumstances, at least.  Your
environment may dictate a different course of action for you.  I plan to put some
pictures of this mast showing its condition after 28 years in the air on my web site.  I
will let towertalk know when the pictures are up and the URL to see them.

Stan
w7ni@easystreet.com

Eugene Jensen wrote:

> I have located 1/4 wall 4130N mast in Pa and don't want to go thought the
> heart burn of having it galvanized. I have some two part epoxy PPG
> industrial paint that left over from a HV switchgear building project that 3
> years later looks like the day it was painted. A nice bluegray (maybe hide
> new 80 Meter F12 Yagi :-). Battery Acid run off this stuff like rain water.
> Any thought on the doing it this way because I seem to remember powder
> coating was another way of doing it. Tx Gene K2QWD
>
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List Sponsor: Are you thinking about installing a tower this summer? Call us
for information on our fabulous Trylon Titan self-supporting towers - up to
96-feet for less than $2000! at 888-833-3104 <A HREF="http://www.ChampionRadio.com">
www.ChampionRadio.com</A>

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