Alternatives to Sand-Blasting Mast ?

[Joli]

Hi Weyalan,

Repainting the spar makes the boat look put together. We recently painted ours with Awlgrip, sprayed.

The shop lifted and hung the spar by the spreader crossbeams, they stripped all the fittings, sanded the extrusion, then etched, and finally painted. Looks great.

We also had extra hardware removed and the holes were welded closed. I contacted the spar maker for his recomendation about closing the holes and welding was his prefered method.

[cat man do]

Clear Tectyl 505 is my prefered coating, easily recoats back into itself with some tectyl on a rag.

No spraying gear, no overspray, no wastage.

Dave

[hooked on water]

hey cat

what is the Tectyl 505
sounds good, never heard of it before
by the way love your signature
hooked

[cat man do]

Hard to find any details of it at all on the web,best I can find is references to it.

It is made by Valvoline and is a clear product designed for the potection of Aluminium.

Tectyl - Rust and corrosion preventive coatings

They dont have a 505 there either, but I can assure you, I have an aerosol can of it down the back.

I have just sent an email to Valvoline after some info, maybe it has had a name/number change.

Dave

[brian and clare]

For the tectyl, is it just a sand prep then wipedown? Seems a heck of a lot easier than painting

[hooked on water]

Thanks Cat

I will also look further into it tonight when I get home from work
Cheers
thanks for your efforts
hooked

[cat man do]

On my mast (last boat) just gave it a sand with 180grit walking the length of the mast to keep the scratches going the same way.

Some I saw done where I built mine went down to real fine wet and dry for an almost polished look. Some actually were buffed and polished (a bit to bright in the sun)

Then acid wash with a Phosphoric acid based cleaner like All Brite Heavy.

This brings it up nice and shiny.

Let the rig dry in the sun and then wet a rag with clear tectyl and wipe it on. let dry, repeat.

3 coats ensures all areas are covered, the more the better but I onl did 3 and there was no signs of corrossion after 5 years of use almost every day, and I had a wet boat and had seen spray on occassion up to the first set of spreaders.

Dave

[brian and clare]

This may be a dumb question, but do you rinse off the all brite heavy with water before putting on the tectyl, or do you leave it on. Spray, wipe down, or pour over with all brite heavy? I have never seent he product so dont know how it comes. If it is anything like ospho, then I imagine you would have to rinse it off to avoid eating the metal up.

[hooked on water]

Hi cat
have tried to find the info on the tectyl 505, only found some on 506 which sounds similar idea
how are you going getting the info
I will see if some of our suppliers here know of it, and can find it
sounds like a great way to look after it
cheers
hooked

[cat man do]

Wash the allbright off with water.

When applying it wear gloves, it is acid, I just applied with a brush.

It then froths up into a white foam fairly well.

give it 5 minutes or so and rinse off.

===================

I have had no reply from Valvoline Europe Re: email as yet.

Dave

[hooked on water]

Dear Dave

Thanks for the help, it is most appreciated
am now thinking twice of painting my mast and boom

Cheers
Greg

[forsailbyowner]

I talked to the spar technician at JSI. Back in the day he built spars for Morgan in St pete. He told me my mast was coated with blockseal in the factory. Cheap and 33 years later no noticeable corrosion.