Mast Painting
My previous boat, a Seidelmann 295, had a Kenyon mast finished with white powder coat. When it came time to paint, I removed all hardware, put it on 2 sawhorses, dewaxed, and sanded the powder coat until the entire mast had a flat finish. Since I intended to use Interlux 2-part polyurethane, I called Interlux tech service who told me that although it is an agressive paint, it is compatible with powder coat. I did not want to strip the mast to bare metal and then have to worry about the narrow time window to clean, etch, and prime. After wiping down the mast with the same solvent used to thin the polyurethane, I spray painted the entire mast using a Wagner electic sprayer. So far, so good. But I made the mistake of painting late in the day (late June) without realizing that an evening mist would spoil my work. The following day, the paint was dry but had a flat finish. Another call to Interlux diagnosed the problem. Fortunately, stripping the new paint was not required, so I lightly sanded with 400 grit, wiped down with solvent, and then decided to brush on a fresh coat, finishing by 12 noon. The paint had enough afternoon sun to skin over before dark and by the next morning, the mast was ready for the hardware to be reinstalled. The finish was smooth (no brush strokes), shiny, and lasted 8 years before I had it Awlgripped professionally. A word of advice regardless of how you paint a mast: be sure to avoid painting the sail track - - otherwise the paint build up in the track will impede the travel of your sailslides.
Vince Benn
Wild Blue
E-380, #22
