I am about to take delivery on a new suite of sails for Betty Lou. New fully battened loose-footed main, new 135 genny, and a cruising chute with a new ATN sock and tacker. I'm also installing a Strong Track system on the spar. Next sumer I plan on doing a complete refurbishment of the mast. I want to rewire and relight, add a radar mount at the spreaders, go all rope on my jib halyard, replace the wind transducer, add a wifi antenna/amplifier and hiDef TV antenna.
I also need to deal with some corrosion and minor pitting around the ss fittings on the lower mast. I've removed the bubbling paint, cleaned up the spar down to bare metal, repainted with zinc chromate and a grey primer, and rebedded the ss fittings, using Tef Gel on the fasteners. My quandary is whether to have the spar repainted when I do the refurbishment, or, as many have suggested, go with an unpainted spar. Aside from the expense of a proper paint job, I like the idea of lower maintainence with an unpainted spar. On the other hand, I've heard that unpainted masts are not pretty to look at and can stain your sails.
Does anyone have an opinion (or actual experience) on painted vs. unpainted spars?
_________________ Jay and Muki Kerr Tartan 37 Betty Lou (formerly Rainbow) Hull # 118, fin keel St. Helens, OR Betty Lou's Blog
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