Coating an antenna

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Gordon B

Gordon B

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2015
Messages
97
Location
USA
Vessel Name
Moonstruck
Vessel Make
41' Defever
Hi everyone,
We have some old but still working vhs antennas. The coating is coming off an the fiberglass hairs are troublesome.
So, the question is, can I paint or coat the antennas without hurting the performance?
I thought about coating them with resin.

Ideas?
Thanks
Gordo
 
I’ve repainted 2 antennas on Hobo. I sanded, then primed with Interlux Brtightside primer and painted with their one part paint. No impact on performance and they looked brand new. I did thin the paint so it would flow better.
 
I repainted our SSB whip antenna with 2 coats of Rustoleum. Worked fine. Held up well. After the first coat, you are able to sand off any remaining hairiness. One tip that worked for me was to hang the antenna so that paint flows down the length and does not pool on the underside of a horizontal antenna.
 
2 Years ago one of mine did the same thing...i.e., the flaking fiberglass thing. I wrapped clear Gorilla Tape (lengthwise) around the antenna and it has continued to solve the problem.
 
Paint or gel cote.

Can wrap with tape but a quick sand, light soray, quick sand and cover coat usually gets rid of all the glass splinters and looks better again.
 
I would stay away from metallic paint but otherwise you can paint it.
 
Thank you

Thanks to everyone. I will add it to my never ending to-do list.

Gordo
 
I did similar work for my Forespar Man Overboard Pole (previous boat). Sanded gingerly; coated in epoxy (to capture the fibers), sanded again, painted with Brightside Polyurethane. Fine after 12 years. An antenna is a tapered fiberglass tube of the correct length with a wire inside.
 
I had the same problem , but light sanded and applied gelcoat using a foam brush , quickly before brush melted got a good smooth finish.
 
I had the same problem and used rather West Epoxy system. I was planning on painting it but it looked so good with a high gloss look I never did for 15 years, then so,d the boat. It did yellow some bu5 still looked good (by my standards).
 
Epoxy coating

I have a 17' 2 part ant. it was so weathered it was just exposed glass fibers. I beached it with straight bleach,let it dry in sun. repaired the break on the lower part with 2 part epoxy and woven glass. Then coated both pieces with same epoxy, sanded and sprayed 2 part white epoxy. Looks better than new!! I have seen others of this make with same weathering.
 
yeh it was just to show that you can get heat shrink that's uv resistant, poor choice regardless. Digikey does list some white 4to1 heat shrink that starts out as 1" and shrinks to .25, but its cost prohibitive because they have to order bulk qty.

So maybe flexseal liquid (not the aerosol) is a better candidate. It dries to a tough glossy finish. I coated my rv's roof with it and was really impressed.

Edit: these people claim to have clear epoxy that is non yellowing. Dont know how flexible it is though.
https://www.artresin.com/blogs/artresin/18196817-non-yellowing-epoxy-resin-yes-its-possible

There was someone else on here that gelcoated his topsides with white epoxy but I cant find the link now. That stuff looked real interesting.
 
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I think at some point, it would be simpler to just break out the credit card and buy a new antenna. A can of spray paint is one thing but some of these "fixes" seem to be pretty complicated and expensive.

That new antenna won't seem expensive if you think of how many years it's going to last and divide the cost by the expected life. $10 per year or so.
 
WesK said:
I think at some point, it would be simpler to just break out the credit card and buy a new antenna. A can of spray paint is one thing but some of these "fixes" seem to be pretty complicated and expensive.

That new antenna won't seem expensive if you think of how many years it's going to last and divide the cost by the expected life. $10 per year or so.
Click to expand...



Sure, $10/year is small change but why chuck a functioning anything that can be easily restored for $10 along with a half hour or so labor?
 
Todays thow away America.....

Loss in pride in maintaing the working......

Etc......

Lots of reasons.....none that I follow.
 
No sure where you get a $10 antenna. Repainting my SSB antenna saved about $150 for $5 worth of paint and an hour's labor!!
 
Chrisjs said:
No sure where you get a $10 antenna. Repainting my SSB antenna saved about $150 for $5 worth of paint and an hour's labor!!
Click to expand...

Didn't bother to read the post before you responded, did you. :banghead:

If you are pleased with your painted antenna, that's all you needed to do. Some of the suggestions were getting pretty complicated. Heat shrink tubing, epoxy, gelcoat, etc., hence the post that you didn't read.

We all have our own standards and if repairs we make suit our standards, that's all we have to do. There's nothing to be gained by criticizing how someone else maintains his/her boat unless it's unsafe.
 
No need to get snotty!!
I did not criticize you or anybody else.
Just do not know where you get a $10 antenna!!
I did re-read your post. It did not help.
You can justify any expense by amortizing it over many years.
For my SSB that would be 15 years at your $10/year!!
It is like anything on a boat (or in life in general) you can fix it or buy new.
Why not fix something that is easy repaired and perfectly good for function?
 
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If the guy thinks epoxy or gel coat is complicated, then DIY for him must be more than what we are thinking.
 
Chrisjs said:
No need to get snotty!!
I did not criticize you or anybody else.
Just do not know where you get a $10 antenna!!
I did re-read your post. It did not help.
You can justify any expense by amortizing it over many years.
For my SSB that would be 15 years at your $10/year!!
It is like anything on a boat (or in life in general) you can fix it or buy new.
Why not fix something that is easy repaired and perfectly good for function?
Click to expand...

"Snotty"? No more than your post about finding the $10 antenna.

Yea, you can "fix" the antenna and possibly get a few more years out of it or replace it and get 10-15 years out of it.
 
foggysail said:
Sure, $10/year is small change but why chuck a functioning anything that can be easily restored for $10 along with a half hour or so labor?
Click to expand...

Chrisjs said:
No sure where you get a $10 antenna. Repainting my SSB antenna saved about $150 for $5 worth of paint and an hour's labor!!
Click to expand...


The $10 you refer to was really $10/year without the number of years specified. NObody suggested a $10 antenna
 
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