VALCARTIER ELDORADO WATER SLIDES

While the Valcartier Vacation Village (VVV) is probably best known for it’s famous Ice Hotel, perhaps for the winter weary residents of Quebec City and elsewhere it is most enjoyed for it’s indoor and outdoor water parks. This “Disneyland of the north” lets visitors enjoy the short summer season in a large complex of outdoor water parks.

When VVV decided it was time to add a new $10 million slide attraction named Eldorado, they had to consider the "2 Cs" - cost versus corrosion.

With many water parks and many decades of experience VVV knew what did and didn’t hold up to the corrosive effects of millions of gallons of heated and chlorinated water. The short version of the story is nothing compared to hot-dip galvanized steel. Amazing durability, factory-controlled quality, inside and out protection of tubular sections, maintenance-free for decades, attractive neutral appearance, easy to specify and install. And all at a cost now often lower than much poorer performing paint systems.

With so many visitors using these structures, safety is of course a vital factor and the transparency of galvanizing is a big reassurance. Unlike painted steel that can secretly corrode underneath the coating (not to mention inside unprotected tubular sections) galvanizing is an actual surface alloy of zinc and steel rendering corrosion under the zinc impossible. Also, the zinc will not bond with incorrectly prepared steel surfaces, so any defects are seen in plain sight and corrected before leaving the galvanizer.

So, despite summers soaked in corrosive pool water and winters buried in the snow and ice of Quebec City, hot-dip galvanized steel will keep these structures trouble-free and worry-free for the owners and as well as the throngs of visitors enjoying that oh so thin sliver of Quebec summer!

‍