Mast Question

[Bob]

I'm new to sailing and I am looking for a good used sailboat. I went out to look at a boat today and I noticed the mast/rigging was painted black on the boat I was looking at. Does anyone know why one would paint the mast and boom? The boat is early 70's vintage.

 

[Bob Camarena]

Rigging?

I can understand a painted mast, boom, and spreaders. Many newer boats have thier mast, boom, and spreaders painted for appearance's sake which wouldn't be of concern in an older boat if done well and you like the look. If you're saying that the rigging (shrouds, headstay and backstay) are painted as well, that's just weird and shouldn't be.

 

[Tom 410]

Possible reason:

Bob, I can only speculate about this, but one possible reason the mast was painted was to hide the results of a lightning strike. The typical telltale of a strike is candycane shaped rust stains on SS rigging. The rigging itself doesn't suffer as much as any electronics on the boat, but more importantly, the boat hull at the point of departure of the strike. Hope I haven't scared you away from a good buy. I've been struck twice and only suffered a VHF radio and stereo loss.Good sailing and keep the pointy end up.Tom 410