Dressing up spar, boom and mast.

po-man sailor

Active Member
My sail hardware has that salt water surface haze/corrosion residue look. A couple small pitted areas too. Like under the goose neck. I wire brushed them and they now shine like a new dime. I guess I'll have to do it to every inch of all 3 if I want a uniform look. Will jb weld any small pits or pin holes.

QUESTION...has anyone ever done this and did you spray rustling clear pain or anything on after to maintain.
OR has anyone ever painted these, like white or metallic aluminum and did it hold up?
Suggestions on how you could dress these back up. Thanks
 
There's always "redneck style"---light sanding with fine paper, then rattle-can primer & topcoat, lol. :rolleyes:

Will it last forever and meet the 'high standards' of some site members? Er... no. :confused:

Are rattle-cans cheap? Um... yes. :)

Rattle-canned my Minifish spars gloss black when I had the 'pirate ship' theme going: black hull (regular marine enamel), black spars (rattle-can action), and black sail with huge white skull over crossed cutlasses on each side... :rolleyes:

Didn't slow the boat down, and looked good enough for the 'pirate ship' to make the narrative on shipboard PA... cattleboats packed with tourists on San Diego Bay, you understand. Sometimes, ya just gotta break the rules and defy convention, lol... or not. :D

Yawn... let the carping, nattering & argufying begin, lol. ;)

I always thought it was kinda cool, hoisting a cold beer while steering with my feet and 'splitting the difference' (i.e. boldly & rapidly sailing) between two cattleboats packed with tourists, only to hear some shipboard PA system blare: "AND HERE WE HAVE OUR PIRATE SHIP!!!" :cool:
 
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Ha! I don't know. I could have made a bone head move. They were powdery and corroded. They are very shinny in spots now. :eek:
Any who... I need to recover from the mistake if thats true. Anyone ever paint spar and boom? I didn't do anything to the mast.
I thought I saw someone post a pic of a black mast and spar set. I may have to use metallic aluminum rustolium paint and primer rattle can like I use on my big front yard flag pole. It looks fair. So fair that when the ins adjuster came in after hurricane Michael she put me down for, one bent "aluminum" flag pole. LOL
 
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Yes, spars can be prepped & painted, the other option is to get them anodized again, which will cost ya far more... :confused:

If you really wanna impress the clubhouse set, have the spars plated in gold or platinum... adds weight and makes it easier to capsize, but those morons will be impressed, lol. ;)
 
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Ha! I don't know. I could have made a bone head move. They were powdery and corroded. They are very shinny in spots now. :eek:
Any who... I need to recover from the mistake if thats true. Anyone ever paint spar and boom? I didn't do anything to the mast.
I thought I saw someone post a pic of a black mast and spar set. I may have to use metallic aluminum rustolium paint and primer rattle can like I use on my big front yard flag pole. It looks fair. So fair that when the ins adjuster came in after hurricane Michael she put me down for, one bent "aluminum" flag pole. LOL
Two of my three "serious" catamarans had black spars--a bad idea when raising 30-foot masts in bright Florida sun. :oops:

Aluminum paint will eventually discolor in an irregular manner. But I stayed with aluminum spray paint on my repaired mast and gave the resulting (nice and even) new finish a coat of Krylon gloss clear enamel.

That's also the treatment I give my steel air compressor fittings. Located only 150 feet from a breezy salt water shoreline, those steel fittings would rust in a few months. After a minute on a wire wheel to clear the rust, the Krylon coating holds up for years. :cool:
 
Thanks LV. I was hoping for that. Its about all I can do at this point. Covers over the JB weld spots also.
I also have a powder coat business just down the street from my house. I thought about that. They have unlimited colors as well as all metallic colors (even chrome lol)
I may check cost with them today. I wouldn't have to worry bout discoloring from clip wear. I'm sure its going to be cost prohibitive and ill be back to the paint remedy with clear coat.
 
Just an FYI.
I went to the powder coat place with my spars and mast. They have a perfect match "anodized aluminum" color. Looks sharp I've used them before and their work holds up to almost any amount of reasonable abrasion. All plastic must be removed for the process. Now the down side...cost...$200.
Oh well rattle can metallic aluminum it is. LOL
 
Go Sailing!!!!!
you’ll forget about the pits and imperfections when you’re out there having a great time sailing. :D

I recently used Mothers gold chrome polish from an automotive parts store to clean and polish up my spars, red plastic bottle.
....recommended by practical sailor and it is easy, relatively fast and works. Plus it leaves a protective coating on the anodzed surface.

leave the anodized surface on the spars, you’ll have to coat with a primer suitable for Aluminum and then topcoat if you remove it. Otherwise you’ll always have a fine layer of oxidation On the surface and be susceptible to deeper crevice corrosion where two metal parts meet.

A saved search on eBay and checking craigslist or Facebook market place and here frequently will land you a set of spars at a reasonable price locally sooner or later.

Good Luck with your project!!!!!

annnnnd


Sail, sail , sail ~~_/) ~~
 
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Thought of this post when I scored a free Minifish hull and mast yesterday.
The mast was in a garage fire and though the plastic end caps were unaffected the anodized coating on the aluminum is shot. Guess I’ll be clear-coating too, po-man sailor!
 

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Thought of this post when I scored a free Minifish hull and mast yesterday.
The mast was in a garage fire and though the plastic end caps were unaffected the anodized coating on the aluminum is shot. Guess I’ll be clear-coating too, po-man sailor!
I'll defer to member Roller, but the anodizing should have outlasted the plastic in a fire.

I suspect some other agent is at work here. (Something black carried in the smoke particles that can't readily be seen on the caps). Maybe a solvent amongst your "solvents collection" will remove it. Possibly something as widely-used as paint thinner or WD-40!

Recalling a neighbor's garage fire, where State Farm Insurance replaced hundreds of dollars of chromed wrenches due to "smoke damage". :rolleyes:
 
It took wetsanding with 800 grit and a lot of elbow grease to get the mast to look like my ‘after’ pic. Also discovered a dent in the mast about 3’ from the base. I’m hoping a wooden dowel with a slightly smaller diameter will support it from the inside.
 

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I' not sure how structurally compromised the dent effected the mast, but if it did, could you reverse the end caps and take the steps out of the base or cup in case it gave way and caused internal cup/step damage? I would rather take a conk on the head than to have to repair a step. LOL
 
Wood "dowel"? :confused:

In your neck of the woods, look for some old White Pine trees, and a large fallen branch. Cut off six inches of the diameter that just fits, and hammer that "dowel" until it stops. ;)
 
Wood "dowel"? :confused:



I like free, but for $10 I can buy a perfectly round poplar dowel and have plenty of length left for the next bent mast or a couple of rolling pins! When I’m hiking in the woods I’m looking out for bears, though I see them more often when I’m working on a boat in my driveway...
 

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Have I sanded off the anodized finish with the 800 grit wet/dry? It had to be done to remove the black crud, but I don’t want the added work or expense of Rustoleum/clearcoat if it’s not necessary.
 
Yes you have violated the sanctity of the anodizerizationing. Your spars will slowly start to corrode if you live up North, if you lived along salt water coasts they would be corroding rapidly as you sanded, ask L&VW. So I would spray them with clear coat.
 
Yikes, I certainly never intended to violate any sanctity! But since I have, I’ll have fun with it and go with that barber pole idea ;)
I’ve got a red white and blue mini sail to match.
Thanks for the quick response, SC!
 

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I also sanded off the chipped and cheesy fake wood sticker on the splashguard. Clean white looks so much nicer!
 

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