aluminum spars: paint or not paint

I attended a short seminar at a boat show recently. The presenter was Brian Toss. When he opened it up to questions I asked him if there was any good reason to paint an aluminum Mast and boom. His response was "Are you selling the boat?" He expanded on his comment to say that a painted mast shows well if relatively newly painted. However, it adds unnecessary weight in a poor spot and invariable needs to be redone periodically and is expensive and not needed to protect the spars. The biggest problem though, according to him, is that the paint cannot be kept completely intact forever. A nick, A chip around a screw or rivet when it is replaced after the paint job. A slight crack in the paint somewhere. Any place the paint is breeched, moisture will enter and be captured under the paint next to the aluminum. This will grow a chemical soup causing corrosion to start, leading to pits in the aluminum, bubbles in the paint, "white powder", seizing and/or failing of fasteners, and any of the other bad things you can think of which happen to aluminum masts and booms. Reggie

Reggie, What about all the disintegrated TV antannae that I see on my travels? They seem neither painted nor anodized, yet they pit, corrode, and disintegrate, and some are tens of miles from the ocean. If I keep Shpritz I'll eventually have to chisel off the nice paint I applied a few years back. I don't remember exactly what I did, but I suspect I left Ospho phosphoic acid treatment residue on it, like your supposed to do if you are preping steel, big mistake. If I try painting again I'll try the alondine or whatever treatment instead, and wash it good before I paints it. Maybe I did do that, and the paint peeled off anyway. I used these two funny little bottles I got from West Marine. If I did something went wrong with it. It just seems to me bare aluminum and salt air do not mix, or am I all wet? I wrapped a fiberglass collar around the base of my mast where it was corroding badly above the tabernacle. It seems to be holding up/holding up the mast, except I do see white powder above where the two materials meet. If/when I drop the mast I'll look inside and see what gives...I'm afraid to look! Jerry From: r good <my… [at] hotmail.com> To: ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 8:23 AM Subject: [Cal_Boats] aluminum spars: paint or not paint I attended a short seminar at a boat show recently. The presenter was Brian Toss. When he opened it up to questions I asked him if there was any good reason to paint an aluminum Mast and boom. His response was "Are you selling the boat?" He expanded on his comment to say that a painted mast shows well if relatively newly painted. However, it adds unnecessary weight in a poor spot and invariable needs to be redone periodically and is expensive and not needed to protect the spars. The biggest problem though, according to him, is that the paint cannot be kept completely intact forever. A nick, A chip around a screw or rivet when it is replaced after the paint job. A slight crack in the paint somewhere. Any place the paint is breeched, moisture will enter and be captured under the paint next to the aluminum. This will grow a chemical soup causing corrosion to start, leading to pits in the aluminum, bubbles in the paint, "white powder", seizing and/or failing of fasteners, and any of the other bad things you can think of which happen to aluminum masts and booms. Reggie

You might just alodine it and leave it that way. I think they treat aircraft that way. Allen On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 9:37 AM, Gerald Sobel <so… [at] yahoo.com> wrote: > ** > > > Reggie, What about all the disintegrated TV antannae that I see on my > travels? They seem neither painted nor anodized, yet they pit, corrode, and > disintegrate, and some are tens of miles from the ocean. > > If I keep Shpritz I'll eventually have to chisel off the nice paint I > applied a few years back. I don't remember exactly what I did, but I > suspect I left Ospho phosphoic acid treatment residue on it, like your > supposed to do if you are preping steel, big mistake. If I try painting > again I'll try the alondine or whatever treatment instead, and wash it good > before I paints it. Maybe I did do that, and the paint peeled off anyway. I > used these two funny little bottles I got from West Marine. If I did > something went wrong with it. > > It just seems to me bare aluminum and salt air do not mix, or am I all > wet? > > I wrapped a fiberglass collar around the base of my mast where it was > corroding badly above the tabernacle. It seems to be holding up/holding up > the mast, except I do see white powder above where the two materials meet. > If/when I drop the mast I'll look inside and see what gives...I'm afraid > to look! > Jerry > > ------------------------------ > *From:* r good <my… [at] hotmail.com> > *To:* ca… [at] yahoogroups.com > *Sent:* Friday, February 17, 2012 8:23 AM > *Subject:* [Cal_Boats] aluminum spars: paint or not paint > > > I attended a short seminar at a boat show recently. The presenter was > Brian Toss. When he opened it up to questions I asked him if there was any > good reason to paint an aluminum Mast and boom. > His response was "Are you selling the boat?" > He expanded on his comment to say that a painted mast shows well if > relatively newly painted. However, it adds unnecessary weight in a poor > spot and invariable needs to be redone periodically and is expensive and > not needed to protect the spars. > The biggest problem though, according to him, is that the paint cannot be > kept completely intact forever. A nick, A chip around a screw or rivet > when it is replaced after the paint job. A slight crack in the paint > somewhere. > Any place the paint is breeched, moisture will enter and be captured under > the paint next to the aluminum. This will grow a chemical soup causing > corrosion to start, leading to pits in the aluminum, bubbles in the paint, > "white powder", seizing and/or failing of fasteners, and any of the other > bad things you can think of which happen to aluminum masts and booms. > Reggie > > > >

Oh, I forgot the Zinc Chromate step.... that's just before the Awlgrip primer. It's the yellowish-green coat on the rig in the photos. Alodine is the neutralizer for the Alumiprep acid (chemical etching) step. From: Allen Edwards <al… [at] gmail.com> To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 1:27 PM Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] aluminum spars: paint or not paint(Reggie) You might just alodine it and leave it that way. I think they treat aircraft that way. Allen On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 9:37 AM, Gerald Sobel <so… [at] yahoo.com> wrote: > >Reggie, What about all the disintegrated TV antannae that I see on my travels? They seem neither painted nor anodized, yet they pit, corrode, and disintegrate, and some are tens of miles from the ocean. > > >If I keep Shpritz I'll eventually have to chisel off the nice paint I applied a few years back. I don't remember exactly what I did, but I suspect I left Ospho phosphoic acid treatment residue on it, like your supposed to do if you are preping steel, big mistake. If I try painting again I'll try the alondine or whatever treatment instead, and wash it good before I paints it. Maybe I did do that, and the paint peeled off anyway. I used these two funny little bottles I got from West Marine. If I did something went wrong with it. > > >It just seems to me bare aluminum and salt air do not mix, or am I all wet? > > > >I wrapped a fiberglass collar around the base of my mast where it was corroding badly above the tabernacle. It seems to be holding up/holding up the mast, except I do see white powder above where the two materials meet. >If/when I drop the mast I'll look inside and see what gives...I'm afraid to look! > >Jerry > > > > >________________________________ > From: r good <my… [at] hotmail.com> >To: ca… [at] yahoogroups.com >Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 8:23 AM >Subject: [Cal_Boats] aluminum spars: paint or not paint > > > >I attended a short seminar at a boat show recently. The presenter was Brian Toss. When he opened it up to questions I asked him if there was any good reason to paint an aluminum Mast and boom. >His response was "Are you selling the boat?" >He expanded on his comment to say that a painted mast shows well if relatively newly painted. However, it adds unnecessary weight in a poor spot and invariable needs to be redone periodically and is expensive and not needed to protect the spars. >The biggest problem though, according to him, is that the paint cannot be kept completely intact forever. A nick, A chip around a screw or rivet when it is replaced after the paint job. A slight crack in the paint somewhere. >Any place the paint is breeched, moisture will enter and be captured under the paint next to the aluminum. This will grow a chemical soup causing corrosion to start, leading to pits in the aluminum, bubbles in the paint, "white powder", seizing and/or failing of fasteners, and any of the other bad things you can think of which happen to aluminum masts and booms. >Reggie > > >

Yep,, bubbles all over the painted boom and up and down the mast. I scraped as many bubbles as I could with more appearing every week.. sigh. The mast and boom look like *^(**&+_) . Twas sooo foolish painting the aluminum mast. Bummer. Thank you christine stark, of the Sea Dame 1970 Cal 25 #1160 MDR, Ca From: r good <my… [at] hotmail.com> To: ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Fri, February 17, 2012 8:23:24 AM Subject: [Cal_Boats] aluminum spars: paint or not paint I attended a short seminar at a boat show recently. The presenter was Brian Toss. When he opened it up to questions I asked him if there was any good reason to paint an aluminum Mast and boom. His response was "Are you selling the boat?" He expanded on his comment to say that a painted mast shows well if relatively newly painted. However, it adds unnecessary weight in a poor spot and invariable needs to be redone periodically and is expensive and not needed to protect the spars. The biggest problem though, according to him, is that the paint cannot be kept completely intact forever. A nick, A chip around a screw or rivet when it is replaced after the paint job. A slight crack in the paint somewhere. Any place the paint is breeched, moisture will enter and be captured under the paint next to the aluminum. This will grow a chemical soup causing corrosion to start, leading to pits in the aluminum, bubbles in the paint, "white powder", seizing and/or failing of fasteners, and any of the other bad things you can think of which happen to aluminum masts and booms. Reggie

I think alodine is a two step process, not just one of the steps. I make stuff out of Aluminum for Papoose and alodine the parts. I can't say it is great but it is clearly better than doing nothing. It is not like anodizing. Allen On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 10:35 AM, Michael D <md… [at] yahoo.com> wrote: > ** > > > Oh, I forgot the Zinc Chromate step.... that's just before the Awlgrip > primer. It's the yellowish-green coat on the rig in the photos. Alodine > is the neutralizer for the Alumiprep acid (chemical etching) step. > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Allen Edwards <al… [at] gmail.com> > *To:* Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com > *Sent:* Friday, February 17, 2012 1:27 PM > *Subject:* Re: [Cal_Boats] aluminum spars: paint or not paint(Reggie) > > > You might just alodine it and leave it that way. I think they treat > aircraft that way. > > Allen > > On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 9:37 AM, Gerald Sobel <so… [at] yahoo.com>wrote: > > ** > > Reggie, What about all the disintegrated TV antannae that I see on my > travels? They seem neither painted nor anodized, yet they pit, corrode, and > disintegrate, and some are tens of miles from the ocean. > > If I keep Shpritz I'll eventually have to chisel off the nice paint I > applied a few years back. I don't remember exactly what I did, but I > suspect I left Ospho phosphoic acid treatment residue on it, like your > supposed to do if you are preping steel, big mistake. If I try painting > again I'll try the alondine or whatever treatment instead, and wash it good > before I paints it. Maybe I did do that, and the paint peeled off anyway. I > used these two funny little bottles I got from West Marine. If I did > something went wrong with it. > > It just seems to me bare aluminum and salt air do not mix, or am I all > wet? > > I wrapped a fiberglass collar around the base of my mast where it was > corroding badly above the tabernacle. It seems to be holding up/holding up > the mast, except I do see white powder above where the two materials meet. > If/when I drop the mast I'll look inside and see what gives...I'm afraid > to look! > Jerry > > ------------------------------ > *From:* r good <my… [at] hotmail.com> > *To:* ca… [at] yahoogroups.com > *Sent:* Friday, February 17, 2012 8:23 AM > *Subject:* [Cal_Boats] aluminum spars: paint or not paint > > > I attended a short seminar at a boat show recently. The presenter was > Brian Toss. When he opened it up to questions I asked him if there was any > good reason to paint an aluminum Mast and boom. > His response was "Are you selling the boat?" > He expanded on his comment to say that a painted mast shows well if > relatively newly painted. However, it adds unnecessary weight in a poor > spot and invariable needs to be redone periodically and is expensive and > not needed to protect the spars. > The biggest problem though, according to him, is that the paint cannot be > kept completely intact forever. A nick, A chip around a screw or rivet > when it is replaced after the paint job. A slight crack in the paint > somewhere. > Any place the paint is breeched, moisture will enter and be captured under > the paint next to the aluminum. This will grow a chemical soup causing > corrosion to start, leading to pits in the aluminum, bubbles in the paint, > "white powder", seizing and/or failing of fasteners, and any of the other > bad things you can think of which happen to aluminum masts and booms. > Reggie > > > > > > >