[TowerTalk] Weather seal a Tailtwister

[jacobsen_5@msn.com]

Marshall,  I would go with Gerald's suggestion, and then go one step farther.  It would be a great time to pull that 'ol tailtwister apart and make sure Katrina didn't do some internal damage. It could save you trouble in the long run.

73
Jake  K9WN

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 21:17:38 EDT
From: TexasRF at aol.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] How to weather seal a Tailtwister rotor?
To: w4emb at myacc.net, towertalk at contesting.com
Message-ID: <143.4cdc2a50.3058d432 at aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"


Marshall, even if you were able to weather seal the rotator there is still   
the problem of moisture condensation inside the unit due to the heating/cooling  
cycle from day to night. The condensation will collect and the same trouble  
will  occur.  

The only safe option is to remove the rotator and store it inside where   
there is some humidity control or at least store it right side up so  condensation  
can run out of the unit.

73,
Gerald/K5GW

In a message dated 9/13/2005 6:27:24 P.M. Central Standard Time,   
w4emb at myacc.net writes:

Hello  all,

I have a Tailtwister (TX-2) rotor mounted on a Rohn 25 foldover  tower.  
While the tower itself appears to have survived intact, hurricane   
Katrina snapped the mast and destroyed the antennas.  I need to fold  the  
tower over to work in it, and likely leave it folded over for a fairly   
extended period.  This will leave the top of the tower and the rotor   
upside down.  Unfortunately, it is still the rainy season here, and  the  
last time I needed to do this, rain water got into the rotor and  settled  
in the bell, causing rust and other corrosion damage inside the  rotor,  
because it is only weather protected when it is upright.  I  would like  
to seal the rotor while the tower is folded over to prevent  this from  
happening again, but none of the ideas I've had so far (wrapping  it in  
plastic garbage bags, using duct tape, using sealing foam) are  usable,  
either because they don't seal well enough to keep water out or  because  
sealing stuff may get up inside the rotor where I can't get it  out.

So, does anyone have any suggestions?

73, Marshall -  W4EMB