[TowerTalk] Restoring Beam Antennas

[Jack - K4WSB]

I had a ham fried who was the radio office on a sulphur ship.  Over 
the years he tried everything to attempt to protect his 
antennas.  Needless to say, between the salt & sulphur fumes nothing worked.
On one occasion he sprayed Krylon and found that once the paint 
cracked it allowed moisture to creep under the paint and caused more corrosion.

This was more than a few years back so my question is:  are the 
current acrylics more flexible and less prone to cracking?  Once it 
does crack will it not cause for more problems?

At 08:37 AM 11/9/2006, K7LXC at aol.com wrote:
>
>In a message dated 11/3/2006 5:46:19 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:
>
> >  I use Krylon #1301 Crystal Clear Gloss acrylic, available  most
>hardware/paint stores.
>Drys quick about 50 deg F.
>_http://www.hardwareworld.com/Sp-Crystal-Clear-Acrylic-pC443NR.aspx_
>(http://www.hardwareworld.com/Sp-Crystal-Clear-Acrylic-pC443NR.aspx)
>
>    Some professional installers use this as the final  coating on a coax
>connector joint over the final wrap of tape. It's better  than 
>ScotchKote since
>ScotchKote is meant for buried applications and does dry  up and 
>blow away when
>used in normal tower/cable applications.
>
>     I'd be careful with the spray acrylic around some  antenna insulators. I
>had a customer spray his new KT34XA with a coating of  Krylon acrylic and the
>danged stuff melted and cracked the Lexan element  insulators.

Jack Hartley
K4WSB / VP2MSB
ARRL - QCWA - OOTC
DXCC Honor Roll