This old mast & rivets and screws

[tommays]

Well

After 28 years my mast is really needing some paint so i am glad i got and early start as it is really a lot of work removing all the hardware


The PO of the boat was a bit on the hack side so to no supprise many of the cam cleats were mounted with sheet metal screws

BUT in heating and PB blasting all the OEM 10-24 screws many did not make it and will have to be changed to 12-24 as the mast is to thin for heli-coils and some parts cant be moved

The big supprise in all this is every SS sheetmetal screw came out perfect go figure

The 3/16 SS rivets all drilled out perfect with no signs of hole dammage

[AllThumbs]

How will you paint the mast? What paint will you use?

[Giulietta]

Tom, what mast do you have?

Why don't you anodize it instead?

[xort]

Imron 2 part paint is relatively easy to work with if you follow the directions closely (don't ask why I stress that)

Just takes time to do all the steps.

Biggest hassle is painting when there is no wind to kick up dust

[tommays]

I dont dont know of a place around here than can anodize a 35' section BUT i will look a bit and it is a bit on the wild side driving around with the 35' section on my trucks roof rack And i think it would be hard because they also sprayed the inside of the mast



The mast is kind of beat up and i feel paint will give the best looking end result IF i was buying a NEW mast it would be clear anodize for sure

I will be using perfection becasue it seems to have the best priming system and my friend did his at home last year at it has held up very good so far


1 . Vinal-Lux primewash
2. epxoy prime coat
3. perfection top coat


I also use to build and paint bicycles using the PPG version of Imron and own good SATA spraying EQU and saftey gear



I also have a indoor 60' room with a fume hood to draw the fumes out of the temp dust tent

[tommays]

I have been looking and the EPA seems to have chased all the anodizeing places to New Jersey

[dakuehn]

Tom,
Are you going to go back with screws instead of the 3/16 stainless rivets?

[tommays]

The rivets worked perfect and were easy to remove they will be replaced with new rivets

A few parts that used screws will be getting rivets BUT the parts that are to thick OR the sheeve retaining plates will have to stick with screws and will go to 12-24 with tef-gel as required

[US27inKS]

I painted my mast with Perfection and I'm very happy with the results. 2 seasons on it so far and no dings in the paint.

Before painting the mast, I sandblasted it. It's a real PITA but I think it will help keep the paint on it longer. If you sandblast, you have to spray the vinyl-lux on within an hour after blasting. I also added flattening agent to the paint because I didn't want reflection off the mast when I'm trying to trim sails. Besides if you dull the finish on a gloss surface it will look bad, on my mast you can't tell.

[dakuehn]

I asked about the rivets because I have the same situation as yourself, but have had a difficult time finding a Air Rivet Gun for rent that can handle 3/16 SS. As a result, I was considering tapping and going back with 1/4" screws--thanks