Your mast is painted?

Are all our masts painted? Mine looks like its just anodized aluminum

Russ,

I think most of our boats were painted with a primer and polyurathane paint, unless you are painting the whole thing this may be a larger process than you are up for. I would check with a local spar and rigging shop to see what they recommend for touch up. Let us know what you find out, my rig could use some touch up.

Steve

I don't think this would work for a mast as it would be cost prohibitive but after i tried and failed to use interlux perfection, i gave up took my BOOM to a powder coater in the area and they painted the boom for 200 bucks! considering the perfection or any other 2 part paint would run some where around 70 dollars not including the other assorted thinners brushes etc seemed like the price was well worth it. the company assured me that the powder coating had a uv inhibitor in it of course i won't know for some time. but IF you could find a shop with a big enough oven and you could transport it there seems like that would be the way to go. the folks that did my boom did a really good job, i had my steering pedestal done by them about 4 years ago and it still looks good.....fwiw

Aluminum doesnt like heat..its a good thing you didnt do your mast..there were some deaths as a result of scuba tanks being powder coated and exploding.I used Interlux Brightside one part poly on my mast 4 yrs ago and still no chalking or chipping..truly amazing for a one part paint..mind you we dont see a lot of sun up here.

and I only bring this up because I'm pretty sure that a mast or boom is not used for scuba diving but aren't the majority of things that are powder coasted aluminum? haven't seen them randomly exploding

That is why spars should be white, there is a risk of explosion with Black Powder coating.

Low temp powder 250f is fine.higher temps 350-400 or any backyard uncontrolled oven is not.also infra red ovens that dont heat soak the metal are fine..yes alu is powder coated everywhere but less so on highly stressed things like hp tanks or maybe a mast..alu weakens at higher temps,is this really news?

I can attest to the fact that you can't apply a two part to surface that has a one part. Maybe it IS easy to use a two part but have not found that to be true. Maybe it's just me. Good luck on your mast

I have hull 1231 and the boats finish spec sheet showed Imron was the brand used. I can't recall the color number but will look and report back

[url]http://pc.dupont.com/dpc/en/US/html/visitor/common/pdfs/b/product/mar/TD...

When I was a teenager we painted the (anodized) mast on my dad's boat with Awlgrip. All we really did for prep was a gentle wet sanding followed with a TSP wash, then followed the directions on the Awlgrip bottle.

I would think if you have existing paint that is chipping off you would want to sand it all off first. Most spar paint is put on pretty thin so I bet a random orbital sander would take it off pretty quick.

My mast was painted from the factory I think, it does get chips and dings on the front from sails, around fittings from corrosion, and up and down the sail track where the battens rub. I just hit the problem areas with a spray can once a year and they seem to hold up fine, and from 10 feet away you can't tell. It's easy to get 10 feet away from the spreaders, just stand on deck.

Paint used on my mast was Dupont Imron - White #555U

Has anyone had the mast painted by a professional?  I am pulling my mast in a month to re-rig, and wanted to look at getting it painted at that time.

Good day Spanky & Russ. I don't understand what you mean by "bare metal" as our mast halways  been  bare although anodized and our Catalina is 1993 too. Anyway, my experience dates back a long time ago and I think and hope for you that the painting technique have improved since then. When you can get a perfect finish with a perfect adhesion, you cannot avoid the mast being kicked and chipped or just damaged by rubbing which will quickly show.
I realize my comment is not very encouraging but I am sure you will get a better approach and I shall follow this carefully.
s/y Rippapai, from Greece.

We did a full refit of mast and boom, some seven years ago. Hereby some pictures. I have a full PDF report of work done (in Spanish)

Regards

Hey Phil!  I'm in Channel Islands as well and plan on having my rig done here pretty soon as well.  Let me know what you find out.  I'm needing to do some prep and paint on my mast as well.

Hi David, I guess I should have changed my profile info.  After 12 years in CIH, I moved to San Pedro a couple of years ago to get the kids more engaged, which Catalina lends itself towards.  My years at CIH were the best though.  I miss it, and very well could end up back there.