pulling ,stripping and treating a timber mast

intrepidsurf · #1 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009

hi everyone,
this is my first post i have ever done so please excuse the simpleness of it...I have just recently purchased a 45ft carvel planked ketch in New Zealand and she is in need of a fair bit of TLC in quite a few areas so you may here from me a fair bit on this site in the future!!!...My boat is on the hardstand at the moment and i am planning on pulling the keel stepped masts out, stripping off the old cracked paint and using some sort of clear coat finish to bring out the beautiful colour of the boxed spruce masts...just wondering if any one can advise me on an easy and safe way to strip the masts back, prep it up ,and what types of clear, vanish,polyurathane that would be suitable...i am a first time wooden boat owner and are sponging up every bit of information i can... i have about 3 weeks to do this project before i head back to sea...

cheers
jason

deniseO30 · #2 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009

Jason! welcome to the forums! I'm a wooden boat lover and self educated with some real time experiance in maritime museum work shops.

pictures! we all want to see your new love!

Once you get the spars (masts and booms) set on supports be very sure the supports are level and spaced around 8 - 10 ft apart. this will keep them from sagging when lying horizontal. It may be wise to remove ALL hardware and gear. paint remover works well, sanding will be mininal that way. traditional spar varnish with high content UV blocker is the choice here. not epoxy, which can't resist sunlight. sand between coats with 220 or so. i'd go for at least 6 or more coats! if you don't prep and sand between coats it will peel and crack. I really hope you don't have iron hardware on your spars. bronze is best, stainless.. eh. doesnt' look good with wood grain.
good luck! hope to see pictures real soon!

intrepidsurf · #3 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009

hey denise,
thanks for the info, i am going to get all the hardware off first and do it the right way from the start. i think that i will proberly hire a spray gun to apply the coats so we get a good finish in the end. i am still sussing out this forum at the moment and will try and get some photos on soon i promise!!!
cheers jase

klem · #4 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009

Depending on what the state of the current finish is, there are a couple of good ways to remove it. Stripper can help loosen it up some. A scraper can be a great tool but be very careful because you can easily gouge your stick. Scrapers are great on solid spars with lots of material but not so great on box sections unless you are very careful. Another popular method is a heat gun and scraper which works very well as long as you keep moving and don't burn the wood.

Prep is definitely the key so removing all of the hardware and sanding is important. Also, make sure that you use a tack cloth as your final wipe on the spars before you start varnishing. I have always applied varnish by hand and with a little practice, that can have a very good finish. In between coats, I use a relatively agressive (~150) sandpaper on the earlier coats and then use scotch bright pads to simply take the shine off on later coats.

paulk · #5 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009

Don't know if a sprayed finish would be really necessary. Most spar varnishes I've used seem to even out nicely from a good bristle brush. It's not as if you're going to be standing alongside the mast as you sail to Tahiti and need to see your reflection to shave in. On your saloon table, that's a different situation. I've rubbed many a coat of varnish there.

knothead · #6 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by intrepidsurf

hi everyone,
this is my first post i have ever done so please excuse the simpleness of it...I have just recently purchased a 45ft carvel planked ketch in New Zealand and she is in need of a fair bit of TLC in quite a few areas so you may here from me a fair bit on this site in the future!!!...My boat is on the hardstand at the moment and i am planning on pulling the keel stepped masts out, stripping off the old cracked paint and using some sort of clear coat finish to bring out the beautiful colour of the boxed spruce masts...just wondering if any one can advise me on an easy and safe way to strip the masts back, prep it up ,and what types of clear, vanish,polyurathane that would be suitable...i am a first time wooden boat owner and are sponging up every bit of information i can... i have about 3 weeks to do this project before i head back to sea...

cheers
jason

Hi Jason,
I have to say, you have your work cut out for you with only a three week window to work with.
Denise makes a very good point about making sure that the spars are well supported by enough horses to keep them from warping.
You will want to have a way to hang them from the ends for the actually coating process though.
I won't advise you on what kind of product to use except to say that you probably won't want to do this very often so use something with a lot of UV protection in it.
Finally, I would stress that no matter how familiar you are with the boat and the spars, if you strip off all the hardware, you will have to think about where it all goes when you put it back. So either take a bunch of pictures or video it before you start taking it apart. Just to have something to refer to.
Good luck.

tager · #7 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009

Spray will not be necessary. Varnish does not take a large amount of skill or very high quality brushes to look beautiful. The scraper is the best approach, it really takes off very little wood, and is much much much faster than even the most aggressive sander. Just be careful and watch your work, and keep the scraper's edge in good shape. Sanding between coats only needs to be a light scuffing for the first 6 coats, after that, you have finish coats, and that is a whole new ball game if you want it to look really good. Don't skimp on the varnish, you get what you pay for.

knothead · #8 (**permalink**) 11-04-2009

Jason, I miss your question about stripping the old finish.
By far, the easiest and cleanest way to strip old varnish is to use a heat gun and a putty knife. The heat softens up the finish and it comes off in big flakes that you can simply sweep up. Then a final sanding will be all you need.

WanderingStar · #9 (**permalink**) 11-05-2009

Also, go to the WoodenBoat Forum. Plenty of good info and advice, also a few of your countrymen.
I have a 39' ketch, but I'm leaving the spars painted.

intrepidsurf · #10 (**permalink**) 11-05-2009

thanks for the advice everyone... just starting to write up an inventoy of sawhorses, covers,heat guns, scrapers,etc before starting this mission this week...hopefully we will have a good run with weather for the next couple of weeks...will be sure to post some photos on the progress...

jase