Re: [amsat-bb] Fiberglass Pole care

["Frederick M. Spinner" <fspinner@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>You need to paint it. I took one down after five years and it was 
> >shedding.
>The material decomposes in UV light and smog and the glass fibers >start 
>sloughing off the surface.
>
I haven't done this yet, but I am going to try to get marine gel-coat, like 
boats and fiberglass pickup truck caps use for the UV resistance.

I figure it's designed for the purpose.  The fiberglass degrades in UV more 
quickly in my experience than the board shows.  I bought a fiberglass square 
tube from Max-Gain a couple of years back, and it
was left outside for about 2 months.  Looked fine when I used it, seems 
strong, etc.  (I did paint it white when I used it)

I bought more tubing recently of the same type and noticed it was about 5 
shades darker green!!! (I.E. It was dark green, the "sunlit" one was almost 
bleached white!)  So that should tell you something right there.

Fred W0FMS

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