Mast renovation

alpinista · **Posted:** 28 Dec 2011 15:00

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?

curriernh · **Joined:** 14 Jul 2011 07:14 **Posts:** 60

Mine's hasn't been painted. Looks just fine to me

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

I also do not mind the look and I have never noticed staining on the sails, but then again, I don't think the main contacts the mast much at all except when it's flaked and that's only a very small portion of the sail.

ByronH · **Joined:** 27 Aug 2008 09:24 **Posts:** 40

I would repaint it. Salt water and salt air is rough on metal parts over the long run. I did this years ago - sanded it, primed it and applied a two part auto paint with a sprayer. It was relatively inexpensive and well worth the effort.

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Mast renovation

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