One of our best tools for sales before we moved to Idaho was a set of aluminum floats sitting not far from our manufacturing building in Arlington field in the state of Washington. We would take a stroll over and I would hand them my car keys where they could poke holes in the thin aluminum. It is a nice thing to know that Aerocet floats will never corrode. Resale will never be factored by hull corrosion.

The floats proved to be extra thin around the top deck chines where there was obvious working from walking on the deck. These floats were manufactured in the midwest and obviously not meant for saltwater.

The principles at Aerocet grew up on the coast of Washington state where there is saltwater everywhere. All one has to do is go to a marina and see how many riveted aluminum boats there are. Essentially not one sitting in saltwater all day. Everything is fiberglass. We give people credit that they know fiberglass is inert to corrosion.

Another area of issue is the use of regular 4130 steel in the landing gear area. We have avoided this at all costs because of corrosion. Unless stainless steel is used, corrosion, in the form of rust, will marginalize the gear system within a short period of time if operated in saltwater. Parts replacement can be very expensive not including the down time and lost revenue. Ask someone who is operating a steel landing gear system in saltwater if you can take a look at how the structure is holding up due to rust.

We are now getting calls from big fleet operators wishing for composite floats in their size, all because of corrosion and the warm salt water they encounter.