Re: Mast painting

"Roger Long" <strider@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:482dc783$0$5092$4c368faf@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 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
>
>
>

Have you tried stripping off the old paint with demineralized water?