Our mast has a fair amount of surface and bi-metal corrosion. This is very normal as it’s painted and has lots of stainless drilled into the aluminum. We decided to go back to basics and strip the mast and keep it aluminum rather than repainting. This would save us some money at the expense of our labor, and in theory be lower maintenance.
The downside of bare aluminum is that it oxidizes. Some people don’t like the look, though the oxidization creates a stable barrier to the elements. I’m fine with the ‘look’ but as I’m stripping the paint anyway I was guided by Chris at C.C. Rigging to polish and wax the mast. This will make it shine and the wax will slow the oxidation.
So began my Christmas holidays and two weeks of stripping, sanding, buffing and polishing.
We discovered that at some point in its life, someone took an angle grinder to the mast presumably to remove some hardware. Very disappointing, but I sanded most of it out over a day or two.
Here is a good progression of the mast.
Notice that shine!!!!
It was a fun exercise; I enjoyed the manual labor and I picked up new skills. I purchased a Makita polisher for the project. It was a handful, but it will come in handy for future gel coat projects.