Hustler 4BTV cleaning event.

My Hustler 4BTV has now been up for 5 years and is serving me very well, I might add. I felt it was time to take it down and clean it. I know, as Murphy would have it timed that something went wrong and it would be the middle of winter on a very cold and windy day. The items I used were a wire brush to get inside the tubing to clean, 99% alcohol for cleaning and a roll of 3M 33+ tape. This tape has a good temperature range. Finally, a Scotch Brite pad....which I never ended up using. I had read online that it was great for cleaning the aluminum tubing....found out not so much. It has been retired to the kitchen for pots and pans. 

My plan was to take each section apart and clean it, and then back together again. I did not want to get too far ahead of myself by taking the whole antenna apart. Before taking a measure section of tubing apart, I measured it and also marked the tubing with a Sharpie marking pen. I wanted to take a measurement and mark it down just in case I removed the Sharpie mark while cleaning. Oh, speaking of cleaning, I thought the wire brushes would be great for cleaning the inside of the tubing, BUT....the 4BTV tubing is 1 1/4 diameter, and I used the 1 1/4 wire brush. The brush went into the tubing just fine, but the bristles refused to go in the opposite direction to bring the brush out! It did take me some time, but I did get the brush out and lesson learned. I used the 1-inch brush instead, which did a great job. All the traps looked great and were still nice and clean. The lower section of the tubing support needed some cleaning, as well as the section of tubing. Overall, for being up 5 years in the ocean air, the antenna looked great. The spider arm required the most cleaning, and I did find a broken spider arm. I do have replacements that I needed to drill a hole in, as I figured some time ago, the spider arms are the weak point of the antenna. 

Top of spider arm

Bottom of spider arm 

I put each of the sections back together according to the Sharpe marks, and I used the 33+ tape around all the joints, along with using my anti-seize on all connecting parts. I then used my NanoVNA to check the SWR, and all was basically the same. I am pleased it has been cleaned and is ready for many other seasons.  

Example of clean trap

Damaged spider arm 

Inside tubing 

Base section before cleaning