Mast Cleaning

[emandvee44]

Our mast looks dirty, and I wondered if there are any tips for cleaning (polishing?) it while it is down and lying on trestles, so in a convenient position to work on. I will have to move fast on this as she has only offered to help on Saturday

Cheers,

Michael.

 

[johnww]

Hi Michael

My advice would be rinse off with lukewarm fresh water, dry and then wax polish with any high quality marine/auto liquid wax polish

 

[Dave-Shafa]

" she has only offered to help on Saturday"

Sack her and get a full time scrubber.

 

[rob2]

Haven't tried it myself, but washing with hot soapy water is all you can do to actually clean an aluminium mast, otherwise any abrasive action will go through the anodising and lead to corrosion. One of the PBO guys recomends following a good wash with rubbing it over with baby oil (how do they extract oil from babies - doesn't the NSPCC object?) which gives a bit of a sheen to it.

Rob.

 

[caerolusmagnus]

mast renovation

Haven't tried it myself, but washing with hot soapy water is all you can do to actually clean an aluminium mast, otherwise any abrasive action will go through the anodising and lead to corrosion. One of the PBO guys recomends following a good wash with rubbing it over with baby oil (how do they extract oil from babies - doesn't the NSPCC object?) which gives a bit of a sheen to it.

Rob.

If the mast was very badly discoloured as mine was, I used Hammerite smooth and it came up really well.

 

[sailorman]

i used blakes mast stuff last time the mast was struck for re rigging

 

[Poignard]

The mast on my boat is 47 years old and doesn't look too good but the baby oil treatment certainly improved its appearance.

 

[eddystone]

Brasso?

 

[vyv_cox]

A tip given years ago was to use a product sold at auto shops for cleaning alloy wheels. I bought some, fortunately not a chandlery price, but in my case the mast was so darkened by age that it had little effect. I would avoid using an abrasive cleaner which might damage the anodising, although you would need to rub very hard to do so.

 

[emandvee44]

Thanks for the tips. we are going to try CIF with a sponge (not a Scotch pad), on a small area. If that cleans it up then do it all and follow up with auto polish. If the CIF is not successful then just a wash with soapy water then the polish. I will try to post results.

Thanks,

Michael.

 

[ditchcrawler]

As my mast is down for a rerig I asked the rigger how to clean it.He (Big Nig of Rig magic) said soap and water.

 

[nigelmercier]

On the same subject, what about in-situ?

 

[neilf39]

Used standard spray on car polish on mine. They tend to have some solvents in which means they clean up some mild deposits left after the soapy water treatment jsut as it does on your car. Buff it off with a stockinette rag. Won't make it look new but will be a bit better.

 

[richardabeattie]

My dream is to get "clean the mast" to the top of my to do list.

 

[ningcompoop]

Anyone tried using alloy wheel cleaner??


John

 

[vyv_cox]

Anyone tried using alloy wheel cleaner??


John

See post #9

 

[James W]

While the mast is down, don't forget to clean the mast track. I was talking to a sailmaker the other day who recommended plugging both ends of the track, pouring in some acetone and then rubbing up and down the track using a old slider wrapping in a thin rag.

Many years of salt and gunk will have accumulated there so it's a job worth doing.

 

[ningcompoop]

See post #9

Yeah, sorry, I completely missed that! Looked at a few reviews of products on car detailing(!!!) sites - it appears that some are more aggresive than others, i.e. removing not just the muck and brake dust, but surface finish!

John

 

[vyv_cox]

Yeah, sorry, I completely missed that! Looked at a few reviews of products on car detailing(!!!) sites - it appears that some are more aggresive than others, i.e. removing not just the muck and brake dust, but surface finish!

John

They must be quite nasty chemicals. It takes a lot to remove new anodising. I would keep away from them, if I knew what they were

 

[nigelmercier]

They must be quite nasty chemicals. It takes a lot to remove new anodising. I would keep away from them, if I knew what they were

The one I use (on my wheels) is hydrochloric and phosphoric acids. I don't think I would use this on my mast.
http://www.cloverchem.co.uk/2013/sds/en/503_alloywheelcleaner_sds.pdf