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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: Another miracle potion: Ultra Tef Gel
Posted By: Vic Roy In Response To: Re: soggy Coonassland (Chiles)
Date: Monday, 18 October 2004, at 5:13 p.m.
While we are talking about doing things right, let's not forget Ultra Tef Gel, the grease-like paste that eliminates dissimilar metals galvanic corrosion, like a stainless screw in aluminum. It was invented by a buddy of Capt. Patrick's who's shop is a couple of doors down from his.
Coat the screw with Tef Gel and it will come out decades later with no effort. When I think of all the problems, broken easy-outs, etc that could have been prevented had I know of the stuff earlier, it's a shame.
Lesson in point: AJ came into my Stewardship with Morse docking lights in the bow, the old metal ones. They worked fine, but over the years corroded to nothing. Morse (now owned by Teleflex) had quit making them, but some other manufacturers offered a direct - no new holes - replacement, some with remote control, and most made of pastic. Anyway, I bought a pair of the fixed plastic ones and they fell apart quick. One sealed beam lasted about 15 minutes and the other one an hour. Then one of the bug-eyes just fell out last UVI, leaving an empty socket and a wire.
Soooooo - found a pair of the original metal Morse ones on ebay from a guy on the Great Lakes and got them for 70 bucks. They came in today and look like new and both light right up. I now realize what destroyed my old metal ones - dissimilar galvanic corrosion between the stainless screws that hold them into the hull (6 each) and the three each screws in the back that hold the bug-eye in the socket, and loosen to allow adjusting the beam angle. Galvanic action between these stainless fasteners and the aluminum or whatever housing just ate them up.
So I just got thru coating the adjusting screws with Ultra Tef Gel and re-installing them, and will coat the hull fastening machine screws when I install the lights. Tef Gel has so much stay-with-it you better wear disposable gloves when messing with it. I just got thru cleaning my fingers with every solvent in the shop, and finally got lacquer thinner to get it off.
Ultra Tef Gel is avaiible by phone from the maker who is on the links section here. A 2 oz syringe will go a long way on your boat. I highly recc. it, and it would serve all of us well to take a couple of hours and remove fasteners in harm's way while they can still be removed and put the Tel Gel to them so you can remove them later. I have a couple of spreader lights that I cannot get open (stainless screw in aluminum housing) that if I'd known of Tef Gen when I installed them, they would be duck soup to get open today.
Live and learn.
UV
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