Got the mast up, finally
Posted by youngrichyoung@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 14 comments
We are mid-refit and it's a slog. We decommissioned the mast when we had the boat transported, just after we bought it. While it was down, we decided to refinish the mast to address corrosion and general bubbling/ deterioration of the paint. It was a lot more work than we anticipated, but it's done, it looks great, and we got the mast back up last week.
Can't seem to add captions, so I'll put them in a comment.
vaneynde@reddit
How did you strip and repaint the mast?
youngrichyoung@reddit (OP)
After removing, bagging, and tagging all hardware with description & location info, we sanded the paint off with 80 grit on random orbit sanders, taking care not to dig into the aluminum. This was messy and tedious, and I would strongly recommend using paint stripper instead if you're doing your own mast. Hand sanding the nooks and crannies took care of the rest of the old paint.
Once it was stripped, we blew the dust off, then used the AwlGrip surface cleaner shown in the pic. Then we did a couple coats of their HullGard Extra etching primer. I forget the exact process, but I think timing mattered and there was some light sanding between coats - follow the instructions from the web site.
Once the primer was ready, we applied the top coat by rolling it on and following with a bristle brush ("rolling and tipping") to get it smooth. We did 3 coats, I believe, and again I don't recall the exact recoat window or whether we sanded between - read up on it if you're using their stuff.
Also, this stuff is pretty nasty. We used full Tyvec suits and respirators with face shields & VOC filters for all of the AwlGrip products. Even that isn't enough for spray application - it can outright kill you if you spray it on without pro-level PPE. Read the warnings!
Reassembly was straightforward, since we were careful about taking notes. Use lots of TefGel to prevent corrosion anywhere stainless touches aluminum or even where two aluminum parts touch. I hate TefGel now - it's a mess to work with. We used LocTite medium on the fasteners for shroud stemball fittings & such. Most of the load-bearing stuff got replaced if possible; that which wasn't easily replaceable got inspected closely. Other gear, like blocks & fairleads, got cleaned and reused unless it looked too tired.
vaneynde@reddit
Amazing
youngrichyoung@reddit (OP)
Wanted to add: we believe the last time the boat got new rigging was 2003. We aren't sure if the mast had ever been repainted since new, which was 1987.
furiousfotographie@reddit
Lotta work and it sounds like you did it right - enjoy it!
youngrichyoung@reddit (OP)
Thanks! I hope so - it's my first time for a lot of these tasks. We are learning a ton, and there's a lot of good info available these days.
furiousfotographie@reddit
Absolutely!
Doing the work is knowing how everything works. When your anchor light fizzles out, you'll know exactly what's what.
youngrichyoung@reddit (OP)
Story of the whole refit right there. I have bled on this boat in some really weird, inaccessible places by now.
youngrichyoung@reddit (OP)
Captions:
2.Quotes for the stripping and painting were in the $16k range for our 65' (~20m) mast. So we tackled it ourselves. Environmental regulations forced us to do the work indoors in a rented shop, which was expensive. But we defrayed the cost by doing a bunch of other messy exterior work at the same time.
At this point, all the hardware is off and we have got all the paint off, mostly by sanding. Long days in bunny suit & respirator. If I had it to do again, I would use an aluminum-safe chemical stripper for most of it.
Roughly $1000 worth of AwlGrip products recommended by our riggers. The primer is anti-corrosive. We fought about the color more than I would care to admit, lol.
We rolled and tipped the thinned paint on. The result is decent, not perfect. There are drips and some orange peel texture here & there, but hardly any of it will be visible from the deck.
Winterlude: the boat came to us missing a few halyards, so I spliced up some new ones during the big dark.
Hanging the rigging. The boat was designed with rod rigging, and I made the decision to stay with it. I am not certain it was the right call - it was expensive, I would like to be able to work on stuff myself, and I understand rod has fallen out of favor a bit lately. But it should be solid. Oh, and I don't think I saved any money DIYing this step - even with some support from our rigger, there were a few surprises on raising day that delayed us and cost most of the money we saved by doing the prep ourselves in crane and rigger time.
8-11. The big day! After reslvong a couple last-minute issues, we hoisted it up and in. The boat was temporarily launched to allow the crane operator to see what he was aiming for. We ended up having to step it twice because the falling tide lifted the mast off the step before we could get the crane unhooked.
youngrichyoung@reddit (OP)
Oh, and I completely forgot - we pulled the chainplates and found terrible crevice corrosion in the chainplate bolts and cracks in several of the chainplates themselves. I did not include those pics, but you can mentally imagine all-new chainplates and bolts, too.
overthehillhat@reddit
I've seen First year boats bubble and corrode all over everywhere-
even engine/fuel components were compromised
Clearly from a misguided electronics installation
eating it alive
Check everywhere and everything -- there might be more
youngrichyoung@reddit (OP)
Good tip. The whole bonding system is a mess. I am methodically going through it to replace the connections throughout the boat.
sailonswells@reddit
Looks great. You'll be glad you took the time in the long run.
youngrichyoung@reddit (OP)
Thanks! It's peace of mind, definitely, and I know the right a lot better for having done it.