Hi All,
Interesting how experiences vary. We spend most summers in our motorhome on
the Oregon coast--only a couple hundred yards away from the ocean in an RV
resort. I've experienced corrosion in just a matter of days while staying
there. One summer I "toasted" a laptop just by using it occasionally
outside under my canopy. When I opened up the case it looked, well, you can
guess! On another occasion, a couple of poles from my Buddipole system got
corroded so badly I couldn't get them apart, and they were only assembled
together for about 10 days. Typically I have to take my antenna down every
week or two and "refresh" all the connections.
I don't know what causes the variation in experiences from being close to
salt water. Maybe it's the prevailing winds? In our case it is almost
always off the ocean (west to east). I do know that, where we are located,
we are frequently shrouded in fog--at least for as much as several hours.
Even when it seems clear--or relatively so--you can "feel" the moisture in
the air.
Anyway, my conclusion is that salt water is insidiously dangerous to
anything electrical. Even when I "seal" connections, the corrosion somehow
sneaks in. I know one thing--I would never buy a used car that I knew spent
a good part of its life on the Oregon coast--or most any coast for that
matter. Stainless steel hardware is cheap insurance, and I try to use it on
just about everything that might get even limited exposure to salt air. The
problem is that there is almost always some part of an "assembly" that isn't
protected, and you best check it frequently. On the K3, stainless steel
screws are an excellent thing, but there are so many orifices in the rig,
you need to look inside every so often!
Dave W7AQK
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