Best cleaner & sealer for a mast?

[conks01]

Hi,

I need to clean my mast as it's dire.

It's alloy so I'm wondering what's out there that could do the trick. I'm told that I'll need to seal it thereafter so I'm also looking for advice on this also.

Finally I have rust bubbles appearing where stainless steel mast fittings adhere. Again I'm told that there is a substance that can be used between the two metals that prevents rusting (?).

Many thanks.

 

[matthewriches]

I use duralac on the masts I fit stainless items to. I have also seen pvc sheet or the clear window vinyl stuff used to create a gasket between a stainless object and the alloy mast.

 

[Quandary]

The traditional thing is to wash it with detergent then apply a coat of wax polish, you do not need to use boat wax for gelcoat, any ordinary car wax will do fine, waxing it does make it harder to get a grip on it with your legs when the wife is winching you up there though!

Duralac is messy stuff but effective unless you are using ss self tappers, wipe of any surplus asap.

 

[ashtead]

I have used baby oil in the past after washing on the boom . You will see that various boats product makers such as International produce products said to clean spars but personally I have never tried but maybe others have had some experience of these or indeed baby oil on the mast or boom? Have you looked on mast makers sites e.g. Selden to see if they have any views ?

 

[pvb]

I've tried every solvent, detergent, and patent cleaner on an old mast, and nothing worked to remove the stains! Rubbing wax or baby oil on it might give a very short-term visual benefit, but I fear you're just going to have to get used to the look of an older mast.