marin77

Hi Guys,

I am purchasing a beachfront property along the CT shore and will be keeping my car there. Does the sea salt create potential issues for my 96 TT or is this a late enough model that I should not worry about it?

We'll be doing a fair amount of work on the house so any thoughts on "must have items" for the garage would be welcome (heat/ac for temperature control, hot/cold water hose for cleaning).

Garage will be one of the few areas where I will have input ... so taking advantage of it!
Thanks in advance
Marin

Slow Guy

This would be one instance where I might use one of those car bubbles, as long as it had the ability to filter the air. Esp. if the car was being stored there.

cpdjfd107

I would install a commercial size exhaust fan int he garage to keep any damp or moist air from staying in the garage. As long as the car stays dry I wouldn't worry about the rust too much with the car being galvanized.

ricks993

I have a home that is 8 houses in from the beach at the NJ Shore. I do not store my car there, but I do have a garage that I keep my car in when I am there. The finish get a film on it even in the garage on a damp day. I can tell you that things stored in the garage corrode much faster, maybe as much as 10x faster in the garage and I am 8 houses away from the beach. You with a beach front will experience much worse. It is especially bad in the winter. I am at the beach as I write this and I can tell you it is damp. If you have to store there get a heated bubble; or heat your garage and make sure it is very well sealed and never open the door in the winter

JPP

I grew up on a beach front ranch in Bodega Bay .. where 'The Birds' was filmed ..
You would have to insulate and heat the space just like the house .. including either heating the slab or raising the floor to keep moisture conduction from happening and have weather tight doors. Nothing eats metal like salt air ... nothing.

Kika

I would not store a TT at a beach house.

Salt is BRUTAL.

I have friend that is a heavy machinery mechanic. His house is probably 150-200 yards from the water, maybe a little more.
He used to purchase Snap on tools, then Craftsman, all of it corrodes, some faster than others, now he just buys inexpensieve stuff and throws it away.

77'3.6vram

Install a commercial grade dehumidifier/air cleaner(electrostatic) to the garages AVAC system. The car will be just fine. I stored my Turbo and RS clone in a open garage in the bottom of the apartment building in Miami Beach for over four years and the cars are no worse for it. The idea that all cars that have spent there lives within a half mile of the California coast are turning into swiss cheese is absurd. Salt air is not ideal for anything corrosive but Porsches of our vintage are extremely well protected by the factory to begin with.

skl

My sister lived across the street from Daytona Beach back in the '70's. She took a VW Beetle down there from Iowa (where it had lived thru Iowa winters for a couple years) and the body was essentially gone in two years. Rain gutters on the roof were literally gone. Everything in her place had surface rust on it.
If you HAVE to store a car there you have your work cut out...

marin77

Thanks for responses - please keep them coming - it makes sense for me to store it there as I will be spending my week-ends there and this is when I would use the car (unless I keep it in NYC and use it to go there on weekends). I thought insulating he garage like the rest of the house may be the way to go...Not much of an incremental expense given all we have to do.

Ed Burdell

When I was a kid, we used to take my mom's '64 Falcon down to Folly Beach in SC. To this day I remember those tiny rust speckles that appeared on the chromed items inside and out after we had been there a few weeks. Although the 993's have great protection and not so much chrome, I'd do everything in my power to de-saltify the air - which I guess means dehumidify.

Juha G

Moisture control is the key here. Salt alone cannot start the corrosion process, it needs water as the electrolyte. Keep the relative humidity below 50% and I guarantee you will have no problems.

Just get a good air de-humidifier. It is basically an air conditioning unit that "works backwards" and removes moisture from the air by first heating it up and then blowing it through a heat exhanger where the moisture is collected via condensation.
A good one should not set you back more than $1500. Don't try to penny up by getting a cheap one as they don't work.

In the winter time you will need to heat up the garage a bit to in order for a de-humidifier to work.

I live less than 100 yards from the beach and use a de-humidifier in my garage. Without it, it is crazy how moist it is in there.
Granted I live by the Baltic Sea, which is considered break water (much less salt than in ocean). But it doesn't change the fact that galvanic corrosion needs an electrolyte. No matter how much you have salt, it won't work unless there is water too...

ricks993

Once you have seen a few seasons as a beach front home owner. You will come away with a better appreciation of the destructive powers of mother nature. Your problem is the winter months from October or November to April. Your best protection is a bubble. Otherwise you must seal, heat and dehumidify the area the car is stored. Or you will see the effects.

tcsracing1

great car for vacation property.

a/c and heat in the garage would suffice.

vincer77

With the coldness in CT condensed moisture is probably a bigger problem than in CA. My father in law lived on the water in SoCal and had a '72 350SL that sat outside for about 10 years. It suffered from a fair amount of corrosion. There was a large hole in one one of the frame rails and rust would shake out of the trunk lid. The cars stored in the garge were fine.

I think the dehumidifier is the way to go.

marin77

Thanks much for all the answers - I truly appreciate the input. This will be our first house, so I get the sense we're in for a bit of a learning curve.

I will likely go with having the garage share the same HVAC system as the house and add a de-humidifier. I will also have the option to store the car at my tech for winter, which sounds like a good idea given some experience above.

I will keep you posted when we actually start the work on the house (note the work on the car is still ongoing!).

Thx
Marin