Running in saltwater
 

Looking for tips and tricks to help extend the life of my rig while running in and near saltwater. I live on the rocky New England coast and one of my favorite convenient spots is near the mouth of a tidal river, low tide exposes some gnarly crawling terrain!
So far I have been pretty diligent about spraying my rig off, drying it with a blow dryer (cool air), and then using WD-40 liberally (including spraying the inside of the motor. What else should I be doing?


Also - what's my best bet for parts material? The obvious seems to be keep it plastic where I can but what can I expect from SS (rust eventually?) and/or aluminum (aluminum oxide create issues?) over time?

Re: Running in saltwater
 

If you have a compressor, blow out the cracks and crevices after rinsing too. Especially the hex head on the screws.

Other than that i think you are doing well. You may need to tear down more often to clean.

Re: Running in saltwater
 

I used to do salt water underwater photography, and best way to get rid of salt water is freshwater. If you've fully waterproofed your rig, your best bet is to actually just do a fresh water wash or rinse. If you're using WD-40 follow it up with some other kind of spray oil. WD does a wonderful job of displacing water, but a horrible job of lubricating or preventing corrosion.

Re: Running in saltwater
 

Perfect advice.

With 1:1 trucks, you try to immediately rinse the truck off as well as possible after driving in saltwater. For your RC try getting a 1gal pump sprayer from your local hardware store (like $15 for a cheap one) and bring the fresh water with you. Then immediately rinse the truck off after saltwater exposure.

Re: Running in saltwater
 

As a follow up, LOW PRESSURE, I repeat LOW PRESSURE on the rinse. Full immersion is way less of a problem for gaskets and such than even the pressure of a garden hose. We would just take the camera's and stick the whole thing in a 55 gallon drum of freshwater and let it sit. After about 20 minutes we'd gently agitate the camera bodies, and then let them sit again. Usually spent about an hour in the freshwater tank. For an RC I probably wouldn't recommend full immersion if you have an other option (caveat if you're rig was fully immersed in salt water, a full immersion in freshwater is your best option). A gentle LOW PRESSURE rinse under a faucet or a sprayer would be ideal. Don't scrip on the water, the more the better. Do it in the shade as well, drying fresh water leads to corrosion, drying salt water leads to almost instant nasty corrosion. Once you are sure you only have freshwater on the rig, now is the time to bust out the air source and spray oil.

Re: Running in saltwater
 

Yes, low pressure for electronics for sure. The pump sprayers can be set to a spray/mist pattern to effectively "rain" fresh water over the truck.

Re: Running in saltwater
 

Great idea, I'll pick up a pump sprayer this week!
Thanks to everyone for the replies so far!

Re: Running in saltwater
 

Try Corrosion X.

It’s a rust preventative, lubricant, and corrosion inhibitor. Hose everything down before and after running in water/salt water.

Safe for electronics.

http://www.corrosionx.com/

http://a66.tinypic.com/mh76d.jpg

Re: Running in saltwater
 

spray on wax motorcycle chain lube

Re: Running in saltwater
 

So, if you aren't diligent with pre- and post-run maintenance in and around salt water...you are making more work for yourself, lol! I think most of the damage was done during a couple of runs before I realized what I was doing (just wasn't even considering how corrosive salt water truly is, stupid, I know). I am waiting on a new bearing kit as I need to replace them all (rust), also ordered new center driveshafts (rusted, took some doing to remove!). BUT now I have more knowledge and hopefully better products (going to try the Corrosion X) so moving forward I should be able to keep moving forward! The pump sprayer worked great for rinsing and will be brought on all salt water excursions along with that can of Corrosion X.

Re: Running in saltwater
 

Every days a school day bud. People always say why didn't you do this or try that, but until youve learnt you just don't know. I've made some epic learning curves 😂😂😂😂😂