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bbryan
06-25-2009, 07:02 PM
Anybody have any thoughts on protecting wing spars for marine use (floats). Would using a primer or polyurethane clearcoat on the spars before covering with fabric be a good idea or cause issues down the road with the poly-tak. I'm thinking about using the polyurethane on the fuselage before covering and may include the wings.
Any ideas??

Mark
06-26-2009, 07:09 AM
bbryan,
Search this forum for "polyfiber primer" and "covering". You'll find many threads filled with ideas already out there for corrosion protection.

SkyPirate
06-26-2009, 12:15 PM
As for floats on an aircraft,..my experience with it ,..if your flying off salt water,..wash the plane after each day of flying if you can,.. all the mounting points for the float,..bolts etc. the flaperons hinge points,..tail feather hinge points ..after washing ..give them a quick spray with WD 40 or another oil based spray,..if you have retract gear in the floats,.pull the plane out of the water and wash it all down good,..salt water does the worse dammage when it's in the sun ..and after it's dry
fresh water flying is the same but not as critical,..where salt water will still be eating at the metal long after the plane is off the water.
when the wings were built if you took care to seal them up as good as possible around the strut and jury strut mount you should be good once the finished coats were applied. same with the bottom of the fuselage.
What will take the worse beating is your prop if you don't have a leading edge inlayed or taped on leading edge,.. choose a composite prop,.. a wood prop,...if the finish get's cracked and inhibited with water it could throw the balance off on the prop. vibration due to unbalanced prop is not good.