Morning Cup Of Coffee And Weather

dustinp said:
I don't want to put a damper on this patina party;), because embracing patina is fine, since it is reversible if desired by you or a subsequent owner....unfortunately corrosion, and its accompanying pitting damage is permanent, so should be prevented if possible, lest you devalue your TD considerably.:(
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Ya watch that border between aluminum and stainless along the fender especially..."galvanic corrosion" - keep it dry and coated.
Anyone using marine wax?
 
dustinp said:
All the leaves are brown
and the sky is gray.
I've been out for a flight,
on an autumn day.
Really gets me yearning
For some warm sunny days.
Arizona dreaming
On such an autumn day.
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Thats kind of sad - I'm both ready for a winter break, and dreading it at the same time. I took Serenity out this weekend - I don't know if we are at 'peak' or not, but we're close -- the leaves were all very muted. more grey than orange.

dirty6 said:
My spouse is out of town this weekend so after years of putting it off, I worked up the gumption to start trying to Walbernize the 560.
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I'm thinking I'll be donig the same thing -- my 'petina' especailly below the galley and sink in particular -- well, need a little lovin'
 
The Postman said:
Ya watch that border between aluminum and stainless along the fender especially..."galvanic corrosion" - keep it dry and coated.
Anyone using marine wax?
Click to expand...
I don't know, but I wonder if CI may use a thin gasket or coating of some sort on the fender or aluminum sidewall to prevent physical contact, since I've never seen one of their TD's with a galvanic corrosion issue at that junction.

I have used 3M Marine paste wax on our TD after cleaning it up, and it has worked well at allowing bugs, water spots, and road debris to be removed easier, and extending the time between needed cleanings. I'm not sure 3M still makes that product, but I would guess that other similar marine wax products would provide similar results.
 
dustinp said:
I don't know, but I wonder if CI may use a thin gasket or coating of some sort on the fender or aluminum sidewall to prevent physical contact, since I've never seen one of their TD's with a galvanic corrosion issue at that junction.
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My CI has galvanic corrosion at the junction between the steel fender and the aluminum skin. That’s not what I’m trying to clean up with this project.

When we lived in Alaska and took the camper partway up the Dalton Highway, we didn’t know we’d be creating a corrosion risk. The Dalton is primarily a gravel road is and is perpetually being re-graded and re-surfaced. They use a gravel compound that includes a salt-derivative of some type. The salty-agent mixed with the gravel is laid down with a lot of water and graded smooth. The sun bakes it and it forms a nearly-concrete hardness, until weather comes and interacts with it to soften it and degrade it. Because of the undulating nature of permafrost, this is actually much more cost effective than laying down asphalt just to have it fall apart in 9 months because the ground won’t stay still.

As we drove along the Dalton, we encountered a few gravel breaks of 2-5 mile stretches that were being re-graveled, which meant the gravel being laid down was still wet and soft. It piled up on our fenders in a comically thick layer, and then as soon as it was on our fenders and away from water it began to harden. We didn’t think much of it (everything is dirty on the Dalton), so we didn’t work hard to clean it off the fenders when we set up camp. But, even if we had wanted to, we wouldn’t have had the water supply necessary to clean it off at the camp site.

Fast forward to the after-camping cleanup process: I’m power washing half a highway off of my fenders at home and noticing a white hard substance right up at the junction of the fenders and the aluminum sides. A quick email/call to Cary and that’s how I learned everything I know about galvanic corrosion.
 
@dirty6 thanks and epic pics on that thread too!

Mine had a little extra pitting there from previous owners. Plus easy to pickup more from the mineral solution sprayed on highways, streets all over the northern US once the ice and snow falls.

View attachment IMG_1160.jpeg

The good news is there are lots of enclosed car washes everyone in places like Far North of Normal where the denizens go to hose that crap off the pickup and Moms SUV.

To do more-
One cool tip by @Cary Winch
was "see if you can find someone at a semi shop near one of the major truck stops or travel centers".
They may have an empoyee or a subcontractor who specializes in keeping those spic n span semis aluminum or stainless diesel tanks shiny...

that could polish the Campinn to mirror shine probly for far less effort than you, for pay, if they can fit you in on busy schedule.

Of course, then you have to carefully age and curate the "beneficial patina" that is actually a layer of oxidization to protect more, once sealed in wax...

From Grok:

"Mild patina on aluminum (such as on Airstreams) is mainly beneficial because it forms a thin, self-protective oxide layer that resists further corrosion.


Aluminum reacts almost instantly with oxygen in the air to form a thin, adherent film of aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃). On bare aluminum (especially older Airstream skins made of alclad aluminum), this natural layer is typically only a few to about 10 nanometers thick. It is hard, chemically stable, and tightly bonded to the metal surface.

Unlike rust on iron (which is porous and allows corrosion to continue), this oxide layer passivates the aluminum. It acts as a barrier that largely prevents further reaction with oxygen, moisture, and other elements. If the surface is lightly scratched, the layer reforms quickly in the presence of air. Many Airstream owners and forum discussions note that this thin oxide layer can provide solid protection—sometimes comparable to or better than certain coatings in the sense that corrosion has a harder time spreading underneath it. "
 
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It begins: you can already see the plaster forming on the fenders even as we are just at the entrance of the Dalton proper:

IMG-0035.jpg


Plenty of miles down the road, the buildup is thickened

IMG-0037.jpg


Back at the house after the trip, just before the power washer came out. You can see in this shot how the buildup has hardened into something close to concrete

IMG-0063.jpg


After the power washing took all the debris off, I was left with this corrosion. This is what prompted my call to the home office:

IMG-0065.jpg
 
dirty6 said:
My CI has galvanic corrosion at the junction between the steel fender and the aluminum skin. That’s not what I’m trying to clean up with this project.

When we lived in Alaska and took the camper partway up the Dalton Highway, we didn’t know we’d be creating a corrosion risk. The Dalton is primarily a gravel road is and is perpetually being re-graded and re-surfaced. They use a gravel compound that includes a salt-derivative of some type. The salty-agent mixed with the gravel is laid down with a lot of water and graded smooth. The sun bakes it and it forms a nearly-concrete hardness, until weather comes and interacts with it to soften it and degrade it. Because of the undulating nature of permafrost, this is actually much more cost effective than laying down asphalt just to have it fall apart in 9 months because the ground won’t stay still.

As we drove along the Dalton, we encountered a few gravel breaks of 2-5 mile stretches that were being re-graveled, which meant the gravel being laid down was still wet and soft. It piled up on our fenders in a comically thick layer, and then as soon as it was on our fenders and away from water it began to harden. We didn’t think much of it (everything is dirty on the Dalton), so we didn’t work hard to clean it off the fenders when we set up camp. But, even if we had wanted to, we wouldn’t have had the water supply necessary to clean it off at the camp site.

Fast forward to the after-camping cleanup process: I’m power washing half a highway off of my fenders at home and noticing a white hard substance right up at the junction of the fenders and the aluminum sides. A quick email/call to Cary and that’s how I learned everything I know about galvanic corrosion.
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Not ever having made the trip to AK, I was unaware of the chloride treatment routinely used on the the roads there. Thanks for educating me on those conditions.
That would make for a tough situation to keep the TD properly cleaned of that corrosive chemical. They use to use it on the mile of gravel road leading to our home until the road was finally paved about 5 years ago, and we would routinely use the under body wash option at the local carwash to try keeping the corrosive effects at bay.
 
dirty6 said:
My CI has galvanic corrosion at the junction between the steel fender and the aluminum skin. That’s not what I’m trying to clean up with this project.

When we lived in Alaska and took the camper partway up the Dalton Highway, we didn’t know we’d be creating a corrosion risk. The Dalton is primarily a gravel road is and is perpetually being re-graded and re-surfaced. They use a gravel compound that includes a salt-derivative of some type. The salty-agent mixed with the gravel is laid down with a lot of water and graded smooth. The sun bakes it and it forms a nearly-concrete hardness, until weather comes and interacts with it to soften it and degrade it. Because of the undulating nature of permafrost, this is actually much more cost effective than laying down asphalt just to have it fall apart in 9 months because the ground won’t stay still.

As we drove along the Dalton, we encountered a few gravel breaks of 2-5 mile stretches that were being re-graveled, which meant the gravel being laid down was still wet and soft. It piled up on our fenders in a comically thick layer, and then as soon as it was on our fenders and away from water it began to harden. We didn’t think much of it (everything is dirty on the Dalton), so we didn’t work hard to clean it off the fenders when we set up camp. But, even if we had wanted to, we wouldn’t have had the water supply necessary to clean it off at the camp site.

Fast forward to the after-camping cleanup process: I’m power washing half a highway off of my fenders at home and noticing a white hard substance right up at the junction of the fenders and the aluminum sides. A quick email/call to Cary and that’s how I learned everything I know about galvanic corrosion.
Click to expand...
I’ve driven the Dalton before and am envious you were able pull a CI. Did you make it all the way?
 
Tour 931 said:
I’ve driven the Dalton before and am envious you were able pull a CI. Did you make it all the way?
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No, we wanted to.

Long explanation but the short version is that the weather window is remarkably small and we missed it. By the time we went in late August/early September, it was lovely in Fairbanks and was supposed to be snowing/blizzarding that night on the North Slope. We instead only went as far as the Yukon River and camped just on the north side of the river. We parked the camper there and used the car to drive another few dozen miles to the Arctic Circle sign. We did go just a bit further than the Arctic Circle threshold on the advisement of the park ranger, and then turned around to come back to camp and the camper. It was a great short trip.

Even at the Yukon River on ~7 September, the low temp that we experienced was 20 or 22F, where Fairbanks was in the 40s at night that weekend.
 
dirty6 said:
No, we wanted to.

Long explanation but the short version is that the weather window is remarkably small and we missed it. By the time we went in late August/early September, it was lovely in Fairbanks and was supposed to be snowing/blizzarding that night on the North Slope. We instead only went as far as the Yukon River and camped just on the north side of the river. We parked the camper there and used the car to drive another few dozen miles to the Arctic Circle sign. We did go just a bit further than the Arctic Circle threshold on the advisement of the park ranger, and then turned around to come back to camp and the camper. It was a great short trip.

Even at the Yukon River on ~7 September, the low temp that we experienced was 20 or 22F, where Fairbanks was in the 40s at night that weekend.
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Thanks. We drove all the way to Deadhorse. We spent two nights camping in the bed of a truck.
 
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