How to fix or separate a hydrofoil wing that is stuck on a fuselage. Wing is carbon and fuse is aluminum.
They were left assembled for a couple months and ridden a dozen or so times in salt water. Corrosion – galvanic or electrolysis – whichever is the correct term, will be inevitable without regular maintenance or preventative action. The bolts were coated with a corrosion preventative or isolater and came loose with ease.
First I tried soaking in fresh water for several days, then penetrating oil, then put in a freezer for 15 minutes, and hitting the wing with a rubber mallet each time. Also tried bolting the fuse to a wood plank and then used a couple 2x4s to try and pry the wing off. Then tried hitting the fuse with a socket extension and heavy hammer half a dozen times and it didn’t budge:
Finally decided to give the fuse a longer freeze to hopefully shrink it and “break” the bond to the wing:
I had the same experience, used the same techniques (soaking, lubricant, banging with a mallet) all with negative results. Then I took the foil to my friend Jean R. and together we got the wing off by putting a two by four on the trailing edge of the wing and banging on it with a mallet. It finally came off (phew). So happy. The moral of the story is, “Take your wing apart after every use!” You don’t want to have to do what we did. Not easy; not fun.
I hear you, difficult task to deal with. I have been experimenting with various isolaters or lubricants as I am reluctant to take foils apart every time. I will update when I have some results to report.
aaaaaand?
Sounds like you are asking what I’m using as prevention? Eco Grease, been using for a couple years and all my foil parts come loose:
https://www.green-oil.net/Ecogrease.html