Mast Painting

Stef · Post by **Stef** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:10 am

I'm getting ready for this season and really wanted to paint the mast. The old paint is still on it, a few scratches & chips here and very faded.
I have seen a post involving priming and undercoats then 2 part urethane rolled on. I also saw a post on someone using straight rustoleum rolled on. There was no follow up post on the outcome of that. I like the rolling idea, will be best bet for me but really don't want to strip to bare metal.
Any ideas and tips will be greatly appreciated.

dave · Post by **dave** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:55 pm

Stef, this ain't what you want to hear, but the only way to do it right is to strip it and start over. It's not just cosmetic. Our boat has been in fresh water since it was new and even with that all of the rivets and any contact between aluminum and SS were corroded. Even if a rivet feels tight it's likely as not that the only thing keeping it that way is aluminum oxide, not aluminum. To make a long sad story short, doing a complete mast strip by removing ALL fittings and then starting over will guarantee that you have fixed all attachment issues AND properly recoated the mast.

Sorry

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:57 pm

I have so far this season painted my boom with the rustoleum method as a sort of trial before attempting the mast. Wet sanded it smooth, wiped it down with a tack cloth and rolled on a couple coats of rustoleum. Used best quality hardware store foam rollers perhaps 3" wide.Turned out really well although my first coats were not so hot...at least until I learned what was too little paint and what was too much. From five feet away it's hard to tell from a sprayed finish. Have used rustoleum for a variety of projects over the years from motorcycle frames to trailers and found it to be durable long lasting stuff. And US quart is less than ten bucks.

dave · Post by **dave** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:14 pm

I forgot to add that a thin film of silicone rubber makes a pretty effective corrosion stopper between the fittings and the mast/boom. There is of course some minute contact but it has worked well for me over the years.

grandillusion · Post by **grandillusion** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:10 pm

did my boom last season and were in the process of doing the mast, spraying is better in the long run, if at all possible, I started by stripping to bare metal, DA sanding with 220, then priming with an automotive 2 part self etching zinc chromate primer, I had a quart of Interlux Perfectit, bit it had gone to shit (hard) and we always have automotive paint on hand, so base coat-clear coat it was, turned out nice, Im choosing to bed fittings with 5200, silicone just isn't tough, and if you have to touch it up, nothing will stick to any area silicone was even wiped off of without sanding

dave · Post by **dave** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 10:19 am

Silicone is WAY tuff. It all depends on the application. I don't see anyone making cooking mats for the oven from 5200! For said purpose [an insulator] I stand by what I said. 5200 is a better adhesive for SOME things. We aren't talking about that need here. The fasteners are taking that job. You are right about nothing sticking to it though, not even new silicone!

grandillusion · Post by **grandillusion** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:38 pm

got my unemployed buddy to strip the mast today, the cost was BEER and gas

dave · Post by **dave** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:29 pm

Is there any aluminum left

?