Refinishing a mast

[Nelsonhow]

The 44 foot Kenyon mast on my old H-30 is very scratched and the white paint is in real bad shape. The mast is down for the season and I'm in the process of replacing the halyards, wiring, and fittings. I'll be strpping the old paint with stripper and then sanding with garnet paper and brass wool.

I'm considering leaving the mast natural and letting it develop a natural patina. I'd much appreciate any advise, suggestions and experiences you out there have. The mast on my old 1978 H-27 boat was natural aluminum and I don't think it annodized. Anyone know it it was?... It held up great.....What do you think?

If I do paint it I'll use a self etching primer and then either a polyurathane or maybe good old rustolium which I've always had great luck with.....again suggestions would be appreciated. But any finish need to be brushed or brushed and rolled on,,, no spraying....


Ideas...suggestions....thoughts
Thanks

 

[Bill1565]

I've used a white primer for aluminum from Ace hardware and Interlux 1 part epoxy on two old masts. Both primer and paint were applied with 3"foam rollers. Quick and easy to do,looks great.

 

[shemandr]

I did mine once. I sanded and sanded to get most, but not all the deeper, scratches out. I think I filled some dings with epoxy and filler de jour. I used the Intelux primer for metal, a coat of primer and then one part polyurethane Interlux on it. It was applied with brushes as I remember. I thought the results were good and the finish was hard. It resisted scratches pretty well. I prefer that finish to the oxidized aluminum. It wasn't a professional quality job but it was a hugh improvement in looks and was durable.

 

[Ed Schenck]

I am in the same boat. Mast is down awaiting new rigging in the spring. My problem is time. In past years I have touched up the two booms with an off-white Rustoleum. Not a great match but better than dark scratches. What you see in the picture is the kind of thing I find on the mast. Just not sure it is worth a complete paint job.

When you guys paint do you remove all of the hardware? That has to be hard.

 

[shemandr]

I had a slide track on that mast - about a billion screws. The mast was set up behind my South facing house and it would get up to 50 on a sunny day. It was quite comfortable for working and beat hanging around the living room all winter. Taking all the hardware off was a good exercise, getting to know the rig, inspecting the rig and replacing all suspect parts. All in all it made for a pleasant winter.

 

[Ed Schenck]

The marina was supposed to take mine off of the truck from Florida and set it aside. I wanted to get the shrouds and stays off for measuring, to get new ones made for spring. When I got to the marina the day after the boat arrived the mast was already wrapped in plastic and on the rack for the winter. So who knows when the weather will break next spring and if there will be room to work on the mast. I think that I will go and get the booms. I can practice on those here in the garage.

 

[Nelsonhow]

When I took the cap off mast there is a 35 foot channel (sail track) that slides in back of the mast. This is followed by another 6 foot track and finally a 3rd filler strip that goes from the goosneck fitting to the base of the mast. All except the filler strip slid right out. The filler took a little persuasion with a hammer and a small block of wood. I took all the fittings off of the mast except the spreader mounts ant the spinnaker exit port which have stainelss rivets. I will replace the many stainless sheet metal screws on the many PO used to add fittings with tapped stainless. Will replace the goose neck flat head stainless screws with hex head stainless in case the ever need to come out again.