Longeron Corrosion

rv9aviator · #1 09-03-2007, 08:22 AM

I just opened the PVC tube that contains the aluminum angle for the longerons and was very surpised to find water inside. I received these 12 months ago and went straight from the truck terminal to my heated shop. The tube has been hanging from the rafters since. When I cut the end off the tube the paper that was stuffed in the ends was wringing wet. There is black corrosion all over the angle and worse where it was shrink wrapped in several places. There is no pitting just discoloration. Cleaning all this off with scothbrite pads is not any fun and takes a while. I'm not sure if this was caused by condensation or the ends were not watertight in the first place. Long story short, I would have removed the angle from the PVC tube as soon I got it home had I known there could have been a problem.

rv9aviator · #2 09-03-2007, 08:48 AM

I just finished inspecting the PVC tube very carefully and found one end cap had a crack in the end. Somewhere along the way it got damaged and somehow water got in. Maybe it sat out in the rain somewhere in the shipping processing, I don't know. This may be a very isolated case but I would still unpack the tube to be safe.