Recent experience is proving out the science on electrolytic corrosion. Exposed carbon fiber is a powerful cathode in the reaction, so the more wear and tear on a wing the more carbon is exposed through the paint. My fuse was looking trashed and i just got an update but the corrosion is happening alot faster this time around because my wings are so rough. I’m going to trying giving my wings a little paint and see if this helps!
For the record my wings are YEARS old with almost daily use. Lots of exposed carbon.
I feel like this is a tricky thing for aftermarket masts with aluminum components - because wear on the OEM wings will cause damage on the aftermarket component.
I know i’ve mentioned this before - and those in the industry have argued against it without much good reaon - but i find that some marine sealant for any connections that don’t NEED to come apart regularly is a great way to isolate components and limit corrosion. On my setup I change front wings alot but leave the mast on all the time - so i keep that mast sealed on the fuse. If i had a one front wing setup (like i used to) i’d keep it all sealed. I use 3m 4200 for this kind of thing and i’ve never NOT been able to get something apart.
aluminum really should be cancelled for foiling gear. About the only thing it is really good at is a low cost mast, its quite good for that. But with any amount of carbon fiber anywhere in the connection system, aluminum just cannot last.
I duno. I got 3 years out of my last fuse. If i was just riding one front wing (which is totally concievable) i’d just have sealant in all the connections and it would be pretty fine.
Another trick i use (which is SUPER counter intuitive) is i remove some coating in a sacrificial area. The corrosion will occur in whatever small spot is comprimised, usually at a connection where the finish is worn off, and really dig in catastrophically in that small spot. I give it an alternative by sanding off the paint over a larger area thats less structurally important(rear half of the fuse) so i get a light dusting of corrosion over a larger area instead of deep pitting in a small spot.
I have yet to put hands on a carbon connection thats quite as good as a well designed metal fuse. I think titanium COULD be fine with some good design that reduced the TI footprint to something affordable (Gong comes to mind here) but its for sure some kind of carbon rear fuse so only the front bit is TI.
I’m a huge fan of lanolin. smells like a dead and decaying animal, but works great. I really wish more people would adopt it instead of TefGel with its super nasty forever chemicals. Thank you for caring for the earth!
Yep, I have a 9 year old Suzuki outboard with 1000 hours on it and basically zero corrosion, all bolts are stainless into aluminum with marine grease. Good enough for me
Titanium solves all the problems and more, seems crazy not to use it. It even works out cheaper in the long term if you end up running 2 or more fuses!!
Best thing I ever did was get rid of everything aluminium.
What gets me the most about aluminium is some people have problems and others don’t. I have had customers but a mast and get corrosion on their fuse so I have got the mast back to test and then tested in on some Alloy fuses that we used to make and had no problems at all so go figure!!
It was just easier to not do Aluminium as I like to make life easy!
Sounds like a great product, but do I have to worry about sharks? Sounds like youʻre chumming the water. Last thing I need is unecessary attention from a tiger.
I just use grease on my hardware these days but I remember back when antiseize was a thing!