Corrosion considerations for extended ramp parking?

[Stetson20]

Posted in the Florida Mooney Flyers forum as I intend to park my Mooney in Pensacola for Jan and Feb while escaping the Michigan winter. Obviously, hangar space is at a premium. I've been quoted a reasonable $100/mo at Ferguson (82J) near Navy Pensacola.

Any thoughts on parking that near the ocean for an extended period of time? I'm planning to be there two months.

TIA!

Stetson20

[DCarlton]

3 hours ago, Stetson20 said:

Posted in the Florida Mooney Flyers forum as I intend to park my Mooney in Pensacola for Jan and Feb while escaping the Michigan winter. Obviously, hangar space is at a premium. I've been quoted a reasonable $100/mo at Ferguson (82J) near Navy Pensacola.

Any thoughts on parking that near the ocean for an extended period of time? I'm planning to be there two months.

TIA!

Stetson20

CA is not FL and the marine environment is different here but I've been parked near the ocean at KCRQ for almost 20 years.  I've had ACF-50 treatment and I've had the plane painted once.  I keep the cabin area covered.  I really can't say the marine environment here has been an issue; I've inspected under the belly and in the wings during every annual myself; can't really say there has been any changes; same with the steel tubing.  There are a lot of planes that spend their life on the ramp here.  

But I'm no expert... just sharing my personal experience here in CA.  

[dzeleski]

Assuming you have some type of corrosion treatment done and you are keeping it in a hangar I would not worry very much. Keep flying it obviously but since its inside most of the salt carried via humidity will be kept away from your plane.

One thing I do is keep the plane as clean as possible. Especially the gear wells, keep all of the dirt cleaned and away from the spar. That helps by giving the moist salty air nothing to attach itself to.

[DCarlton]

7 hours ago, dzeleski said:

Assuming you have some type of corrosion treatment done and you are keeping it in a hangar I would not worry very much. Keep flying it obviously but since its inside most of the salt carried via humidity will be kept away from your plane.

One thing I do is keep the plane as clean as possible. Especially the gear wells, keep all of the dirt cleaned and away from the spar. That helps by giving the moist salty air nothing to attach itself to.

Good point.  Keeping the plane and prop clean and waxed is part of my coastal ramp parking regiment as well.  I'm also considering ceramic coating next time instead of waxing to help preserve the darker stripes.  

[Stetson20]

On 9/27/2022 at 1:29 PM, dzeleski said:

Assuming you have some type of corrosion treatment done and you are keeping it in a hangar I would not worry very much. Keep flying it obviously but since its inside most of the salt carried via humidity will be kept away from your plane.

One thing I do is keep the plane as clean as possible. Especially the gear wells, keep all of the dirt cleaned and away from the spar. That helps by giving the moist salty air nothing to attach itself to.

It'll be parked outside on the ramp for 2-4 months. I plan to be along the gulf coast, and up the east coast near Myrtle Beach from Dec-Mar this year.

Frequent washing and keeping the plane covered seems to be the best mitigation strategy.

Thanks for the input!

[ilovecornfields]

My dad’s Arrow lived in a hangar in Carlsbad (CRQ) for 6 years with no corrosion issues. I had it on the ramp in Oakland (OAK) for about 6 months and it had quite a bit of corrosion found on the next annual. I think FL tends to be more humid than CA so I’d probably try to borrow a hangar if you can.

[DCarlton]

1 hour ago, ilovecornfields said:

My dad’s Arrow lived in a hangar in Carlsbad (CRQ) for 6 years with no corrosion issues. I had it on the ramp in Oakland (OAK) for about 6 months and it had quite a bit of corrosion found on the next annual. I think FL tends to be more humid than CA so I’d probably try to borrow a hangar if you can.

Where were the corrosion issues?  

[A64Pilot]

I’d have the airframe fogged with Corrosion-X before I went, in my opinion it’s something that should be done every few years anyway even if your not in Fl, not real expensive and it really does work.

Only caution about it, is if you going to get a paint job real soon, don’t Corrosion-X, it will slightly seep out of every seam and make painting difficult. It does of course “go away” over time though.

‘Corrosion in Fl is real, it’s not some wives tale, but it’s not instant death either, it’s usually a very slow process taking years to do damage.

[ilovecornfields]

On 9/29/2022 at 10:07 AM, DCarlton said:

Where were the corrosion issues?  

I don’t remember. This was about 25 years ago.

[MMsuper21]

My  plane moved from Waukegan to Florida 2 years ago. Plane is parked outside at KLNA. No issues at all, when I went back to Wisconsin for my annual I got compliments on the paint and 0 corrosion.

People especially those who don’t live in Florida like to chime in how terrible it is. The key is to fly your plane and keep it clean. 

I did see several planes with crazy corrosion but those seem to have sat around for extended periods and 2 of them were from California. 

CorrosionX or ACF50 do work well if needed.  

[Pinecone]

6 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

I’d have the airframe fogged with Corrosion-X before I went, in my opinion it’s something that should be done every few years anyway even if your not in Fl, not real expensive and it really does work.

Only caution about it, is if you going to get a paint job real soon, don’t Corrosion-X, it will slightly seep out of every seam and make painting difficult. It does of course “go away” over time though.

‘Corrosion in Fl is real, it’s not some wives tale, but it’s not instant death either, it’s usually a very slow process taking years to do damage.

I agree with this.

[docjeffry]

Have you considered maybe taking it somewhere else completely? Locally here in central Oklahoma, David J Perry (1k4) has covered hangar space for 85/month (blow thru). Three sided for 95/month. Something to consider. It is particularly dry here during the winter and we do not get heaps of snow, Have it ferried out. 

J

[Eight8Victor]

I live in Florida and replace my Mooney every five to six years. Once the sun melts your paint and it puddles on the ground it doesn't take long a wing to fall off due to corrosion. The horror stories are real but we have lots of beautiful flying days so you learn to live with it. 

[Stetson20]

23 hours ago, docjeffry said:

Have you considered maybe taking it somewhere else completely? Locally here in central Oklahoma, David J Perry (1k4) has covered hangar space for 85/month (blow thru). Three sided for 95/month. Something to consider. It is particularly dry here during the winter and we do not get heaps of snow, Have it ferried out. 

J

That's a good plan, except I wanted to fly it while in FL for the two months. I could also just leave it here in MI and have a buddy fly it on the rare vfr day during winter. West Michigan is notorious for overcast skies during winter. My wife complained about it one year and I said bs.. Then started counting overcast days on Feb 1st.. 28 days later, I had counted 26 overcast days! We've since jointly agreed that we will attempt to winter down south somewhere each year. This year it's FL panhandle and Myrtle Beach.

BTW, ramp space at MYR is only $70/mo if any of y'all want to escape the harsh midwest winter!

[PeteMc]

I've been parked on the ramp on Long Island for 30+ years with no issues.  Right before getting the plane repainted the mechanic was noticing a few things where the paint was failing.  I'll have to assume that having the onshore ocean breeze might have accelerated that issue, but maybe it would have been just as bad in any moist environment, ocean air or not.  And all were minor, he was just making note that it could become an issue down the road.  But at that point I was just waiting for my slot to come up on the paint shops schedule.

And I do also have the plane fogged every few years, per my mechanics recommendation as he inspects the plane each annual. 

As for the hangar stopping any salt air issues, I don't see how that would really help.  I guess the sun baking the hangar could dry it out more.  But if the salt has permeated the air, it's in the air both outside and inside the hangar.  As for the hangar keeping your plane out of the rain and other elements, absolutely.  But I would not pass on fogging/treating the plane just because you're in a hangar if you're in salty air conditions.

[MMsuper21]

Just to be clear corrosion is real and definitely accelerated around here. But people make it sound like your plane will instantly disintegrate.
 

All I am trying to say is if you tie down a  plane for 3 month and fly regularly I wouldn’t stress about it. 

[PeteMc]

2 hours ago, MMsuper21 said:

All I am trying to say is if you tie down a  plane for 3 month and fly regularly I wouldn’t stress about it. 

Gotcha.   I was indeed thinking long term.

[Jim Peace]

I have been in a hangar near Daytona for over 4 years and all is well....

Plane was at Van Nuys for nearly 50 years when I bought it and was kept outside the entire time...I did the SB for the tubes when I purchased it and all is fine there to..

corrosion treatments every other year since I have owned it for last 8 years,,,,