So, this end of year I will be in a beach and will be really hard to resist riding in the sand close to the sea
What are you guys experience on protecting the board and cleaning it later?
Apart from bearings and some connectors everything is stainless here
My plan for now is to give a few coats of WD40 everywhere salt could be a problem and rinse and scrub it really well with fresh water immediately after it
Probably will take motors apart after I get back and swap all bearings if they go bad
See if you can get an enclosed gear drive and inrunner motors, and put all the electronics in something you can hose down (single box for battery and ESCs, sensorless, epoxy wires with a inline bullet connection that you can marine heat shrink, charge port in box), and stick to some form of laminate or skinned deck so you can hose it all down
WD40 is just a lubricating solvent and IMO won’t give you much protection for this. The sand and salt will just be incorporated into the bit of oil that doesn’t run off (when sprayed on).
IMO it would be better to use something like a silicone lubricant spray that will leave a dry layer of protection. There are many but I’ve used CRC Extreme Duty Silicone spray (No. 03030 and Item #1003285 listed on the can) on the gf’s scooter very successfully to resist NYC dirty salty slush. Water rinses off the dirt and salt and the silicone still stays in place.
@BillGordon @jack.luis forgot about that gem, will read all again to see if I missed any good tips
@ZachTetra everything already sealed here, I can run my board underwater for a few seconds without problems, mostly worried about salt ruining things
@Battery_Mooch really good point, will see what I can find here. Also, what is your take on dielectric grease? I’m thinking in filling every connector with it (the ones that are external to the enclosure, which is basically all, since my enclosures don’t have any wires coming out, just connectors to make a really good seal)
I’ve seen it literally used on CPU pins so I feel like it would be fine to go in a large connector too, but who knows
It’s a great insulator and fantastic for preventing oxidation of surfaces. 
But it’s messy as hell. For filling up connector spaces where the wires exit I’m thinking neutral-cure silicone RTV. Tough, stays in place, resists salt/chemicals.
Wait…are you talking about filling the space where the pins/receptacles connect? Yea, silicone RTV would be a very bad idea. You can probably use dielectric grease for that but it might actually be better to just switch to waterproof connectors, if possible.
@ShutterShock yeah, that one
@Battery_Mooch got it, I saw some packs using it on all connectors in the past, think it was on Zero motorcycles
I’m on the beach a lot where I live and have the benefit of hosing down my board with purified water after so nothing will corrode! My only issue I’ve had is grains of sand getting stuck in my bms switch where it pushes in and out in the barrel.
I’ve also seen cases of naturally occurring iron filings in sand getting picked up by strong magnets on devices. Should be mostly ok if your motors are mounted high enough.
@WARMAN you mean on the charge port?
@frankthedragon that might happen for sure, but I’m used to it, where I live the soil is rich in iron, and the dust gets attracted to the motor, you can perfectly see where the magnets are
Don’t forget kingpins and truck hardware which get hit especially hard with brine, and also the obvious things like motor bearings.
If you do this it helps as well for keeping the motor bearings oiled.
As you said, hosing the skate off, even in the motors, while running the throttle a bit, will help a LOT. Make sure it’s immediately after the ride.
I would also make sure you’ve used butyl tape on your enclosure or another sufficiently water resistant solution.
No my charge port has a cover that plugs it up,the actual power switch to my board pushes in and grains of sand make it stick,I’m currently looking at alternatives,the only issue I’ve come across so far with the beach 
If you do end up coating the board with anything please consider what you use carefully because some of it will inevitably stay on the beach when you’re done.
Keep the wet sand out of your charge port 
It went really well, can’t enter or leave the beach, but other than that the board handles really well, even on the softish sand, just need to be aware when transitioning for hard to soft to not be thrown out
After coming back hosed the entire board with lots of water, the true outcome will be only know in weeks or months
Unfortunately that is the end of my beach riding, went to see how fast I could go, but the sand went from flat to really wavy and ate at around 35 km/h, at first it was nothing, then I noticed my knees while I slowly made my way back with my pride taken away by the sea. The beach was mostly desert, but obviously there was lots of people where I fell 
Now a few hours later lots of bruises everywhere and it hurts to move, don’t remember exactly what happened but I rolled a few times, will be a few days until I can get on the board again I think
Overall awesome experience, 10/10, would recommend to anyone, just don’t push it if you aren’t familiar with the terrain
On another note, I dropped tire pressure to 30 psi, and consumption went from 15 Wh/km to 24 Wh/km, you can easily see on the record bellow where I fell
Take two, last day here so I couldn’t not go, two days chilling and some painkillers and I was fresh ish again
Went slow and far and all good, another falls would be bad, consumption this time was 17 Wh/km
Crossed some fresh water streams, rode really slow on sea water once, got the board completely stuck in one of the streams that was a pain to get out, the vibrations of trying to get unstuck made the wheels sink and be engulfed by the sand, should’ve brought a shovel
At the end lots and lots of fresh water everywhere, specially since the motors and drives got quite a bit underwater crossing the streams, and while they should be fresh water, I didn’t taste to be 100% sure
This was the one last ride
Sunset riding is awesome, but what I really wanted was to ride at night, lets say it isn’t as nice as it sounds, with no moon, it’s you in pitch black with a bit of light in front, while my lights are strong and perfect for forest trails, beach requires way more, or else you have to go really slow
