renew clear coat for mast

[mcfly777]

My Moses 91cm mast is very rough, I found that the clear coat is "breaking" all over. What's the best way to get back to a smooth surface? Just sand it down, or apply a layer of clear coat? Epoxy or PU? Any other tips?
thanks

[joekitetime]

I was hoping someone was going to chime in. No one yet. A guy here had a similar problem with his moses carbon mast, which was that it seemed to keep "drying" out, looking sorta rough with the carbon exposed (similar to if you over-sand carbon and get into the fiber). Year after year after various measures it would come back. This year he painted it white with boat paint ($100/gallon kinda paint for fiberglass boats) (personally I use interlux bright side for high gloss shine (and I know a guy who used the same paint to paint his airplane prop for a mirror finish, but like 100 coats and you sand in between coats) or I use interlux bilge coat for rougher areas with no sanding in between coats). Anyway, this guy painted his mast white (he painted all the black surfaces (board and mast, I forget if he did the wings) white to keep them cooler in the sun. It seems like it is going to hold up well and be cooler, although we won't know for sure until the season progresses.

Another option which is a pain in the ass, but it is used, is painting with clear, west systems epoxy. 3 coats. Similar to varnish work on a sailboat. However, what I don't like about that is because the masts are not dead flat when you paint the epoxy runs and it is a total nightmare to sand to get rid of the imperfections. It works really well on flat surfaces but not as well on uneven surfaces.

Like you, I was hoping someone would have some tips!

[mcfly777]

Thanks so much for your answer. I was also thinking of using a 2K epoxy clear coat spray, do it in thin layers so it doesn't run and create imperfections, and sand in between layers. Let's see if others have anything to say. I'll also contact Moses.

[Foil]

My mast and one of my buddies had the same problem,
and it caused all sorts of stability problems at speed, horrible sort of what the hell is going on feeling, like catching the odd bit of weed that clears and then as you speed up it feels weird again.
tackled it with wet dry paper
the thin clear coat was itself peeling off like miniature tiny rolls of plastic, i thought it was my wet dry paper breaking up at first until I got in close under bright light to see it was tiny tiny peelings of clear coat, so micro thin you do need strong light to see it properly.
an hour later using 600 then 800 and finally 1000 wet dry paper across the width of the mast I was left with a super smooth matt finish, looked great, even if I only partly rubbed away half of the moses logo, the main problem area was the last 18 inches of mast down at the fuse end, that now looks perfect.
and the next day on the water my mast was totally silent and super smooth running,
I did not want to spoil anything so left it just like that, that was 8 months ago, its been perfect.

My buddy however had some small patches of imperfection, air holes and tiny areas of roughness, for this he used 3m glass compound, an acetone based smooth filler, it looks like red toothpaste, you skim it on over the imperfections with a old credit card, it drys in 15 mins and then finish it with 800 then 1000 wet paper, he left it without applying any top coat tested it and also found it to be super smooth running and totally silent, even 2knts faster, as his mast was more badly affected than mine, that was around 8 months back, and he loved the results,
only negative is the masts now look a little second hand, but what the hell, they are now perfect in every other way.

both masts were bought around the same time around 2 years ago, 101 masts.

[bohme]

My cheapskate approach:
Sanding
Aerosol primer
1200 grid wet sanding
Polyester filler for bigger scratches and pinholes.
Sanding
Aerosol acrylic paint
Wet sanding 800 or 1200

I sometimes clean it with a bit of soap, or light sanding.

I guess the best way is a professional 2 part polyurethane clear paint job?

[OzBungy]

My masts and foils come from the manufacturer with 2 part white boat paint over the carbon

A couple of times a year I fill any scratches or chips, sand back the filler, then respray with cheap rattle can paint (Dulux Duramax). I then sand it to whatever finish I want.

The advantage of the white paint is that it reflects heat and UV, and you can see any blemishes. It's easy to spot sand things that need fixing and you're only sanding off paint, not carbon.

Recently I have been scrubbing out stains with steel wool. It leaves a nice smooth matt finish.

After more than 500 hours my gear still looks, and works, like new.

[Sfollis]

My super smooth and fast 101 mast

For some reason one side needed sanding more than the other to remove the snake skin effect lacquer. Consequently one side is now naked of the Moses logo.

This next picture shows the filling of the pin-prick holes using the 3m glazing compound.

I confirm that the mast performs much better now compared to when it was covered in the original lacquer that was cracking. It is totally silent and reaching speeds of 26knots on my 633 and 30 knots on my 720 are frequent.

I did not add any coating after sanding with wet&dry 600 -800-1000 and finally 2000 grit. It’s been like this for nearly a year and all seems ok (apart from no Moses logo on one side).

[mcfly777]

Thanks everyone for the input. Looks like there's a very thick layer of resin where the logo is embedded, so I can safely sand further. Will prob do that! thanks again