J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Repainting Mast

I was considering repainting my mast to make it look a little better (its pretty hacked up right now). I was wondering if anyone has done this, and if so, what tips/suggestions could you give. The current mast color is black, and I would like to keep it that color. Thanks in advance for any help.

I know Dorsey Owings (Sea Biscuit in Maryland) has done this. Perhaps we can get Dorsey to write how he did it.

I painted the mast on our boat three years ago. I work in the Auto Industry so I use Imron, a epoxy paint made by Depond. Imron is used on aircraft and race cars. It is ez to repair and not as hard as Algrip. I went to you automotive supply house and bought a areasol primer for allumnum. I removed as much of the hardware off the mast as I could, sanded and "DAed" the mast, primed and strayed the Imron. I sprayed the mast out side on a windy day so one side came out a little better than the other, but at 10 feeyt looks great. The boom I strayed inside and it came out almost perfect! If your going to paint you mast you might think of some kind of mast speader bracket mod.at the same time.

There are some Marine epoxy paints that can be rolled and tiped. You could talk to one of the piant reps. at a boat show or on line for more help.
John McArthur "Smiles"

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OK I have to cheat to post a reply. I forgot my password and the site doesn't seem to be able to send it to me.

Now about repainting the mast. I'm just about finished with this job. It's a big job. If your fittings were as corroded as mine the hardest part is removing all (yes all) of the hardware. I used a Makita sander/polisher with 8" 80 grit disks to remove the previous epoxy. For coatings I went with Interlux and brushed everything on (vinylux primewash, epoxy undercoat, and Interthane Plus as described in their guides.) I think when its done it's going to look great.

It would takeabout ten pages to relate the entire task and I don't like to type that much. So if you have questions, give me a call.

202 333 5887

Jeff Sammis
J/30 #295

We did this 5 years ago - stripped EVERYTHING off the mast, used a sandblaster to clean the corroded areas, and repainted with Imron. A lot of work, took 3 of us about 5 days in total (partnerships do have their benefits), but we were quoted $1500 by a yard, so well worth it.

My mast and boom have been painted black, the paint has chipped off in many places, and they look terrible.

I honestly don't care if the mast and boom are painted or not, so long as they are a uniform color and don't look ugly. Reduction of work is my primary concern.

Can I sand the paint off the mast, possibly with progressively finer grits, and will the color stay stable and uniform? Any advice?

Thanks,
Ryan Pierce, #337
rdpierce@pobox.com