Several of the gas connections between the ends of the compliant 

 tubes and between the tubes and the gas manifolds showed some rust 

 bleeding from underneath the sealant used to protect the connections. The 

 connections showing rust were marked for further inspection. The antenna 

 support arms now showed considerable rust staining, especially at areas of 

 mechanical damage and at areas such as sharp corners and the interiors of 

 the arms where the coating was thin. 



The syntactic foam blocks of the foam tower and on the low frequency 

 antenna remained unattacked. No additional coating damage was noted. The 

 main lifting eye at the top of the foam tower was now covered with a loosely 

 adherent film of flaky red rust. 



Third Inspection 



A third a final inspection of the tower was made after the tower had 

 been lifted onto the dock for repair. This inspection was made over a two 

 day period. During this period the appearance of many areas changed 

 appreciably. Unless otherwise noted the descriptions in this section refer 

 to the condition of the tower as noted on the second day, after the tower 

 had been rinsed with a high pressure hose and allowed to dry. 



The shock absorbers, as shown in Figure 3, were covered with loose, 

 flaky red rust and rust stains. The surfaces under the rust were etched 

 but no pitting was noted. The area under the missing hardened tip was as 

 corroded as the adjacent areas on the cone, which indicates that the 

 hardened tips were lost during emplacement. Areas under the undamaged 

 paint coating were unattacked. The paint coatings showed no undercutting 

 adjacent to damaged areas. 



The coatings on the base plate and universal joint had blistered over 

 about 10% of their surfaces. No rust under these blisters was noted. 

 Areas of mechanical damage were covered with flaky red rust. Removal of 

 this rust revealed little significant corrosion underneath. Fresh water 

 rinsing of the base plate and universal joint resulted in the loss of about 

 \0% of the black top coat of paint from the surface. No additional 

 corrosion was noted at these areas of paint failure. The main column up 

 to the level of the bellmouth showed about \0% of its area covered with 

 blisters. Upon fresh water rinsing many of these blisters ruptured and 

 top coat of paint was lost. No significant corrosion was uncovered by this 

 coating loss. The bellmouth showed considerable rust staining and much of 

 the top coat of paint on it was lost during fresh water rinsing. However, 

 no significant attack of the bellmouth was noted. 



The coating on the main column from the bellmouth to the bottom of the 

 buoyancy sphere was blistered over about \0% of its surface. As on the 

 lower portions of the main column and base the top coat of paint was lost 

 during fresh water rinsing although no corrosion at these areas of paint 



