Aluminium Alloy Oil for Mast and Boom

RunAgroundHard

RunAgroundHard

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I have scrubbed my mast and got rid of grime and green slime. On the boat is a tub of Hempel Alu Protect. The instructions say rub on and wipe off excess oil. I brief internet search suggests it penetrates the mast, but I doubt that. The mast is regular, natural grey coloured alloy extrusion. Do you think that such a product would help keep the mast clean and be beneficial?

Hempel's Alu-Protect - Hempel
 
I'd have thought the spars are annodised, in which case the annodising layer protects it. Not sure what some goop would add to that protection other than as a wax to make washing easier.
 
A nice lady yachstwoman I used to know suggested I use baby oil (for the aluminium spars, sadly not for any other purpsose :cry:).

I tried it one year and it improved the appearance of the spars, slightly.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Perhaps snake oil?
Click to expand...
I'd think any oil of natural origin, whether made from snakes, babies or whatever, is likely to be biodegradable, and that this, tree-hugging hippy jive notwithstanding, might tend to be a bad thing, since it will potentially grow mould (though maybe not much in that exposed location), oxidise, and break down, not having had millions of years to get used to its chemical composition like a petroleum-derived product would have.

Were this NOT the case I'd be tempted to apply my automotive panacea, sunflower oil, which seems to be stabilised when mixed with aluminium dust when aluminium is used with the oil as an abrasive on steel.

I have to wonder, though, whether any surface treatment is a good idea, since it might disrupt the (re) formation of the protective oxide film on any exposed aluminium surfaces.

I just dont know, but I'd like to, since I should soon (tickets for first week in December bought yesterday) be facing a tired old aluminium mast in the White Hell that is a Boness boatyard in the winter.
 
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I used it once, never again. If you need to go aloft the spars are slippery and sticky, not helpful. On a warm summers evening thousands of small flies stick to the mast making a hell of a mess. It does improve the aesthetics for a short time. Avoid.
 
I watched a guy last spring SAND ... yes SAND his mast .... I casually had a chat with him and asked why he was doing that ...

He replied that someone before him had apparently used some 'magic' oil sold to protect it ... but it had been a mess ... they removed it damjaging the anodised ...

Guy I was talking to had decided that he would sand it all back and then prime / paint ... it looked really good once finished .. but would now be an annual paint job !!

Personally I would have cleaned it up and then lacquered it .. accepting the patchy anodised.
 
Thanks, I will give it a miss. The mast is fine as it is, washed, and rinsed, clean, ready to go back on the boat. It’s survived all this time without anything applied.
 
RunAgroundHard said:
I have scrubbed my mast and got rid of grime and green slime. On the boat is a tub of Hempel Alu Protect. The instructions say rub on and wipe off excess oil. I brief internet search suggests it penetrates the mast, but I doubt that. The mast is regular, natural grey coloured alloy extrusion. Do you think that such a product would help keep the mast clean and be beneficial?

Hempel's Alu-Protect - Hempel
Click to expand...
Actually I cant see where they say it penetrates the mast. They do say it penetrates stainless steel rigging, which it probably does, but there seems a possibility it would exclude the oxygen that passivates the surface, so, rather as with aluminium, it might do more harm than good.
 
Like GEM, I used it it once when the mast was down for a rerig. I had to hide when the the riggers restepped the mast and tried to get aloft to refit the wind transducer. On the plus side the rigger got down easily. The stuff was cosmetically ok for a short period but all in all would be of more use in a fire station.
 
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