Tied Down Outside In A Coastal Area?

[Marauder]

It being my only possibility I'm interested in hearing from those who've tied down an aircraft outside in a coastal area about any maintenance/repair issues you believe that environment has caused.

[Dana]

I had my T-Craft tied down about seven miles from the ocean for a few years and at one point had to replace rotted lower longerons in the tail, but that's probably due to years outside in general, not being on the coast specifically.

[Bill Berson]

My plane was tied about 1/2 mile from the ocean for about 30 years. I don't see any difference with corrosion if it gets flown often.

[Airmutt]

Marine atmospheres contain chlorides such as salt particles or droplets of salt-saturated water. Since salt solutions are electrolytes, they corrosively attack aluminum and magnesium alloys. Some alloys are resistant corrosion better due to their chemical makeup.
The USN P-3 community had a mandatory wash requirement if operated below something like 1000 ft AGL over salt water. Even still corrosion was a long term problem.

[flyrgreen]

As Airmutt says, coastal air is very salty. He mentions airframe corrosion, and that's something to watch for. But electrical connections are also very prone to this same corrosion. Headset jacks, push-to-talk switches, paddle connectors in the battery area and behind the panel, etc. These will need to be sprayed with electrical contact cleaner from time to time.

If the coastal area is in the Florida to North Carolina area, you will also need to be familiar with repairing hail & tornado damage. Just sayin'........

[Marauder]

As Airmutt says, coastal air is very salty. He mentions airframe corrosion, and that's something to watch for. But electrical connections are also very prone to this same corrosion. Headset jacks, push-to-talk switches, paddle connectors in the battery area and behind the panel, etc. These will need to be sprayed with electrical contact cleaner from time to time.

If the coastal area is in the Florida to North Carolina area, you will also need to be familiar with repairing hail & tornado damage. Just sayin'........

What I don't quite 'get', especially about electrical issues, is my car is parked outside about the same distance if not closer to the ocean than the airport I have in mind and shows very little effect from being there and modern cars are nothing if not dependent on electrical connections to make their way through the world..