[Towertalk] Trylon towers

[K7LXC@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/2/02 1:22:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time, jimsmith@shaw.ca 
writes:

> So, everyone, is Dan right in what I take to be his assertion that the 
>  edges of all Trylon tower elements are not adequately protected from 
>  corrosion?  "Sleepless specifiers want to know", or, "I don't want to be 
>  known as the guy that recommended something that rusted out before he 
>  was dead."

    This is a non-issue. The amount of exposed material is insignificant - 
maybe less than 1% of the tower surface area. 

    Edge rusting hasn't been a problem with other zinc plated towers like the 
Rohn BX series or the Delhi towers (they had other more significant 
problems). 

    I've got a Trylon Titan laying in my front yard for an impending 
commercial project and I'd say about 50% of the edges have an adequate 
coating and no rust. The rest has some minor surface oxidation that can 
either be ignored (which is what I do) or sprayed with some cold galvanizing 
spray paint. 

    Let's not lose sight of the fact that we're splitting hairs (hares?) 
about one aspect of tower construction and reliability. Hot dipped 
galvanizing is ONE way to do it. It's pretty good and is the de facto 
standard. Is zinc plating as good? It's about 90% as good and obviously 
cheaper. We're probably talking about the difference between a 25-year 
coating and one that'll last for 20 years. 

    Not everyone needs or wants to spend the money for a commercial grade 
tower; i.e. a 96-foot Trylon self-supporter is about $2200, 100-feet of 
SSV/RTP from Rohn is about $5500. 

Cheers,
Steve    K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for commercial and amateur
Champion Radio Products -
Trylon dealer