Mast painting

I've been dithering about redoing the mast this spring.  It's a matter of 
possibly missing another couple weeks of sailing vs having everything
major 
on the boat done so I can keep open the option of taking her south next 
winter.  I couldn't stand the uncertainty of not knowing what I was going
to 
decide any more so I went down this morning and pulled the wiring out and 
removed most of the fittings.

Glad I did.  The PO's wire nut and masking tape connections were showing 
bare copper in one spot.  Lots of corrosion around fittings in the lower 
section after just 3 years in salt water.  Bedding and sealing all the
S.S. 
screws and fittings a good thing to be doing this year.

Any painting experts here?

The mast is a 1980 Kenyon with a thin coat of gray paint that looks like
it 
might have been epoxy considering how well it's held up.  Lots of bare
spots 
up at the top where the previously wire jib halyard scraped grooves right 
into the aluminum.

I talked to the old guy at the Benjamin Moore paint store who seems to
know 
a lot about paint.  He is the one who put me onto the "dumpster" paint for

the topside stripe which came out great.

http://home.maine.rr.com/rlma/08Paint.htm

He says he says paint in Maine is a problem because the state sort of 
randomly made much of it illegal in the state.  The only paint approved by

the American Hospital Association for use in populated hospital wards is
now 
illegal but his two most carcinogenic paints are still on the shelves. Go 
figure.  I don't know whether this makes enough difference to justify
going 
to Massachusetts to buy paint.

The local store has a "direct to metal" acrylic enamel that he suggests 
applying with an airbrush type sprayer I can rent from them.  They can mix

an exact color match so chips and wear spots won't show in most spots.  No

way I'm going to try taking the old paint off.  What is on there is really

tight and hard.

Anybody got a better idea?

-- 
Roger Long