white mast

[SVDistantStar]

My mast is painted, and its chipping and flaking off in large chunks. Im going to take a grinder with a wire brush on it and go to town on it soon.

My mast is 35 years old, has never been painted, or treated in anyway.

Yes it is grey, and has always has been, and always will be.

There is ONE reason to paint a mast, and that is cosmetic. If you have a mast made of inappropriate alloy that will actually corrode itself to pieces paint is not likely to help. (Do you paint the inside of the mast????)

Painting does nothing to protect against galvanic corrosion, that you have to take care of by careful hardware attachment techniques.

[delmarrey]

I would think that all mast/boom manufacturers would use a marine grade of 5052 or 5086 alloy. The 6000 series (construction grade) would be too brittle and the 3000 series would be too soft and corrosive (lawn chairs).

[wlshor]

My boat came from the factory with a black anodized aluminum mast. Boat was built in 1974 and still looks great. I would never consider painting it. That would mean just another project to keep-up. _(\_ Wilson

[mikereed100]

Phillip,

I would think that the path of least resistance for you would be to simply strip and repaint the blemished areas on your mast. I would not be worried about any structural issues with stripping the whole mast and leaving it unpainted, but that would be a very big job and your time might be better spent sipping a cold one in that beautifull saloon of yours. Just a thought.

Mike

[philip van praag]

Originally Posted by mikereed100

Phillip,

I would think that the path of least resistance for you would be to simply strip and repaint the blemished areas on your mast. I would not be worried about any structural issues with stripping the whole mast and leaving it unpainted, but that would be a very big job and your time might be better spent sipping a cold one in that beautifull saloon of yours. Just a thought.

Mike

im with you there
this is a job i will do in two years time when i step the mast for replacment standing rigging
this year i will atempt to do the cross beam and see how it weathers
in the long run there is far less work if i strip it and much more time for sitting back with a cool one.