Black Masts & Two Color Topside Paint

[TooCoys]

Recently while in St. Maarten, I noticed a few boats had black masts. I thought they looked much much better than the mundane white masts. Is the color of a mast strictly asthetic? If there are no issues to be concerned with, I may decide to paint mine black when I redo the other exterior paint.

Speaking of, I'd like to roll & tip the outside of my boat, but when I do, I want to do it with two colors. I'd like to paint some kind of graphic on the side to make it a little more original. Perhaps a turquoise base with a gray swoosh or something. Would you recommend two colors of paint, or a painted base with a vinyl graphic installed?

[2020]

don't follow the crowd - how about a barber pole design?

[TooCoys]

hunh.... didn't think about another color.

[UNCIVILIZED]

If you live somewhere with lots of sun, & which at times has utterly no breeze, then black spars will heat up a bit more. But in practical terms, it's generally of little consequence. Though some folks may tell you that the heat's bad for Dyneema halyards inside of the spar. True enough in theory, but plenty of racing boats have black carbon fiber spar to little ill effect.

[TooCoys]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

If you live somewhere with lots of sun, & which at times has utterly no breeze, then black spars will heat up a bit more. But in practical terms, it's generally of little consequence. Though some folks may tell you that the heat's bad for Dyneema halyards inside of the spar. True enough in theory, but plenty of racing boats have black carbon fiber spar to little ill effect.

Well, we're on the Texas Gulf Coast, so the sun will beat anything that isn't in a covered slip... no matter what the color is unfortunately!

[UNCIVILIZED]

Just warning you that keeping Spectra at temps above say 200 deg. F can be bad for it's health.

As to graphics. Keep in mind that on boats, a lot of things that look level, aren't, & vice versa. Along with the fact that getting graphics to look right is tricky, due both to the afore mentioned bit, & that owing to compound curves inherent to hulls, it's tougher to know in advance how art work will look when applied to a boat hull. So that via either medium; paint, or vinyl, it'll pay to have someone with experience in such matters help with the project.

Also, if you don't like your new hull artwork, vinyl's easier to remove. But if you're doing things such as patterns, & motifs. Like say, tiger stripes. Then it's easier to add to them to "tune" them via paint than with vinyl.

[justwaiting]

Originally Posted by TooCoys

Well, we're on the Texas Gulf Coast, so the sun will beat anything that isn't in a covered slip... no matter what the color is unfortunately!

IMHO

If a mast is not already painted why paint it at all. There is enough to maintain on any sailboat without adding unnecessary work and expense. If it is painted i would prefer white to black because there is not as much of a contrast between the color and the original surface surface. The other reason i prefer white is visibility at night - even when anchor lights are in use.

Painted hulls look better when first painted and often for some time afterwards but as soon as they scratch / abrade then you have the same issues of color contrast. Repainting hulls is far more painful than buffing out minor damage in gel coat. Having said that once a hull is painted it is very hard to go back to the original finish.

The issue of Racing boats with Carbon Fiber spars is different because of the underlying color and the differing maintenance schedules.

Other peoples experiences may differ.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by justwaiting

IMHO

If a mast is not already painted why paint it at all. There is enough to maintain on any sailboat without adding unnecessary work and expense. If it is painted i would prefer white to black because there is not as much of a contrast between the color and the original surface surface. The other reason i prefer white is visibility at night - even when anchor lights are in use.

Painted hulls look better when first painted and often for some time afterwards but as soon as they scratch / abrade then you have the same issues of color contrast. Repainting hulls is far more painful than buffing out minor damage in gel coat. Having said that once a hull is painted it is very hard to go back to the original finish.

The issue of Racing boats with Carbon Fiber spars is different because of the underlying color and the differing maintenance schedules.

Other peoples experiences may differ.

Racing boats (black) carbon fiber masts being clear coated, & thus black, is an owner/consumer driven thing. In that they "look cool" as compared to a painted carbon fiber spar. Not anything having to do with practicality or maintenance. Quite the reverse in fact, as epoxies soften more as temp's increase, & black surely heats up in the sun quicker than does white.

On top of this, dings & chips in paint finishes are much easier to spot when the material underneath of the paint greatly contrasts with it. Such as is the case with black CF & whilte LPU paint, as opposed to clear coat. Advantage LPU.

Also, clear coats (on CF spars) don't protect the CF from UV anywhere nearly as well as does paint. Thus again, paint wins out from the maint. perspective, especially CF spars that are painted white. It's WAY more practical. Just not nearly in as much demand is all. Most owner's want "sexy" clear coated CF spars, not painted ones.

[zengirl]

Originally Posted by TooCoys

Recently while in St. Maarten, I noticed a few boats had black masts. I thought they looked much much better than the mundane white masts. Is the color of a mast strictly asthetic? If there are no issues to be concerned with, I may decide to paint mine black when I redo the other exterior paint.

Speaking of, I'd like to roll & tip the outside of my boat, but when I do, I want to do it with two colors. I'd like to paint some kind of graphic on the side to make it a little more original. Perhaps a turquoise base with a gray swoosh or something. Would you recommend two colors of paint, or a painted base with a vinyl graphic installed?

My guess is that you can paint it any color you want. Are you sure you are not looking at a carbon fiber mast? They are black, but not painted black.

[KP44]

Many carbon fiber mast appear black.
I painted mine an off-white; less glare and I can spot mine easily in a forest of white masts.

[buzzstar]

Starting to sound like a two tone paid job on a 1950's automobile. Either that, or the opposite - Henry Ford's any color you want, just so it is black. Still you might consider sea blue-gray-green so you'd be difficult to spot. One of the pleasures of sailing, you can pretty much do as you please with color, although it might be legal to impersonate a USCG color scheme. How about Navy gray (used my many naval forces). It could make pirates think twice? Actually, absent a legal impediment, do as you please, and you are correct in asking about possible negatives.

[ZULU40]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

If you live somewhere with lots of sun, & which at times has utterly no breeze, then black spars will heat up a bit more. But in practical terms, it's generally of little consequence. Though some folks may tell you that the heat's bad for Dyneema halyards inside of the spar. True enough in theory, but plenty of racing boats have black carbon fiber spar to little ill effect.

black surface is 2x ambient, red a close second
the increased temperatures are considered a life shortening effect in composite aircraft

[anacapaisland42]

20 years ago we painted our spars with green Rustoleum....it's now about due for a touch up where the halyards have been slapping it.
Still looks great, spars match the green stripes on the hull.
Bill

Originally Posted by TooCoys

Recently while in St. Maarten, I noticed a few boats had black masts. I thought they looked much much better than the mundane white masts. Is the color of a mast strictly asthetic? If there are no issues to be concerned with, I may decide to paint mine black when I redo the other exterior paint.

Speaking of, I'd like to roll & tip the outside of my boat, but when I do, I want to do it with two colors. I'd like to paint some kind of graphic on the side to make it a little more original. Perhaps a turquoise base with a gray swoosh or something. Would you recommend two colors of paint, or a painted base with a vinyl graphic installed?

[Stumble]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Racing boats (black) carbon fiber masts being clear coated, & thus black, is an owner/consumer driven thing. In that they "look cool" as compared to a painted carbon fiber spar. Not anything having to do with practicality or maintenance. Quite the reverse in fact, as epoxies soften more as temp's increase, & black surely heats up in the sun quicker than does white.

On top of this, dings & chips in paint finishes are much easier to spot when the material underneath of the paint greatly contrasts with it. Such as is the case with black CF & whilte LPU paint, as opposed to clear coat. Advantage LPU.

Also, clear coats (on CF spars) don't protect the CF from UV anywhere nearly as well as does paint. Thus again, paint wins out from the maint. perspective, especially CF spars that are painted white. It's WAY more practical. Just not nearly in as much demand is all. Most owner's want "sexy" clear coated CF spars, not painted ones.

The other reason to clearcoat instead of paint is that it is much lighter. Obviously this doesn't matter much to non-racers but when you are counting every ounce paint weight matters.

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by TooCoys

Recently while in St. Maarten, I noticed a few boats had black masts. I thought they looked much much better than the mundane white masts. Is the color of a mast strictly asthetic? If there are no issues to be concerned with, I may decide to paint mine black when I redo the other exterior paint.

Please if you do decide to paint your mast think of your neighbours and do a proper job. This mast has been shedding it's paint job for about 3 months (and will be for sometime yet) landing on all the boats around it, I can only imagine the uproar if it was black

The paint was the cheapest "outdoor" paint he could buy from the local hardware store and applied with no prep at all, he just shimmied up the mast and slapped it on

I'm sure you will do a better job of it