Paint or anodized?
I've had the same question Lew. My booms(cutter) and mast have a few nicks and scrapes. It's complicated by the fact that my Kenyon spars are anodized, I think. The scrapes are just surface blemishes but some of the nicks go down to what looks like shiny aluminum. Here's what a fellow Hunter owner and metallurgical engineer had to say on the subject: "For your scratches, I would recommend cleaning with emory cloth and immediately follow with alodine solution. When that dries I would use any good quality epoxy paint to finish. A spray epoxy would work fine. If you can find it, a product called Koropon is what is used on aircraft aluminum. It's a two part primer that can be applied directly to cleaned aluminum. Once it dries, any spray epoxy or enamel paint will work fine and give you better protection than Kenyon used on their spars. Whatever you do, do not use zinc chromate primers designed for steel. Their protection for aluminum may induce galvanic corrosion and you'll be worse off than when you started." All of this assumes your spars really are anodized. Thanks Tom.
