Mast top colour

[zoidberg]

It's long been the practice for smaller vessels likely to find themselves in big seas - such as Down West - to paint their topmast in an eye-catching colour. When spars were wooden, white paint was common.
These days, I see some masts with a red-painted section at the top.

Having repainted my elderly Proctor spar in white, I'm now considering adding a layer of orange stick-on vinyl on the top metre. This has high-reflective elements bonded into it and is far more 'attention-grabbing' than plain white would be in a panorama of breaking white crests.

Who has experience of this kind of thing to share...?

 

[Rappey]

I'm not sure about effective range of a bright day glow type colour but the reflective strips certainly work very well at night.

 

[Binnacle]

and so useful for a head torch on the way back from the pub....

 

[Hacker]

The white paint on the top spar was to reduce the amount of heat absorbed as the top spar was thinner than the main mast. The idea was to reduce heat induced shakes.

 

[TernVI]

The white paint on the top spar was to reduce the amount of heat absorbed as the top spar was thinner than the main mast. The idea was to reduce heat induced shakes.

I was told it was because the mast is tapered, there is open grain on the top bit.

 

[Kukri]

I disagree with everybody! The top of a gaff mast at and above the hounds was painted because the lower part of the mast was left bare and slushed with tallow so that the gaff jaws and the mast hoops could slide over it.

Varnish was for rich people!

 

[Jamie Dundee]

I had understood that the mast tops were white so as not to show the bird sh1te which was deposited. Maybe a more technical reason was in fact the case...

 

[TernVI]

I had understood that the mast tops were white so as not to show the bird sh1te which was deposited. Maybe a more technical reason was in fact the case...

I had heard that theory, but when they eat fish rather than fish and chips, the guano tends to be brown.

 

[Neeves]

Day Glo colours are very sensitive to UV - so fine when you first paint - but it will soon fade - if you don't mind refreshing it - go for it. The same goes for Day Glo fabrics. I agree with Rappey's post - I'm not sure, realistically that a Day Glo mast top in murky conditions makes any difference to the visibility of your yacht to others during the day - If you want to be seen - think of an orange head sail and a bright square of yellow or orange tied across your foredeck or cabin roof.

If you want to be seen when inverted - use red AF, white, black, blue, green AF simply merges into the background colours (at least according to a Air/sea rescue helicopter pilot).

Jonathan

 

[Stemar]

When ambulances changed from white to the current battenberg livery, I acquired an end of roll of yellow dayglo reflective tape and put a couple of bits round the mast. It isn't really noticeable in daylight, but trying to find my boat at night doesn't need a very strong torch.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I had heard that theory, but when they eat fish rather than fish and chips, the guano tends to be brown.

The white stuff is bird pee. Rather than converting excess nitrogen into urea and piddling it out with lots of water, as we do, they turn it into uric acid which can be concentrated more than urea and so disposed of as a paste, conserving water.

 

[[70521]]

It's long been the practice for smaller vessels likely to find themselves in big seas - such as Down West - to paint their topmast in an eye-catching colour. When spars were wooden, white paint was common.
These days, I see some masts with a red-painted section at the top.

Having repainted my elderly Proctor spar in white, I'm now considering adding a layer of orange stick-on vinyl on the top metre. This has high-reflective elements bonded into it and is far more 'attention-grabbing' than plain white would be in a panorama of breaking white crests.

Who has experience of this kind of thing to share...?

A pal of mine has the last 500mm at the head of the sail covered with an orange dayglo material, works really well in big and small seas.

 

[Alfie168]

It's long been the practice for smaller vessels likely to find themselves in big seas - such as Down West - to paint their topmast in an eye-catching colour. When spars were wooden, white paint was common.
These days, I see some masts with a red-painted section at the top.

Having repainted my elderly Proctor spar in white, I'm now considering adding a layer of orange stick-on vinyl on the top metre. This has high-reflective elements bonded into it and is far more 'attention-grabbing' than plain white would be in a panorama of breaking white crests.

Who has experience of this kind of thing to share...?

I used to fly now and again as a passenger in a Chipmunk that had large portions decked out in orange to warn others I was coming. There must be a point to it. Never quite understood the white top of masts.....as you say...white mast....wave crests......what the hell ?

 

[zoidberg]

.....a Chipmunk that had large portions decked out in orange to warn others I was coming. There must be a point to it.

That's so the Instructor and/or you could find the damn thing where it had been parked the night before - a little aircraft on a b-i-g grassy airfield. There's a reason why it wasn't painted camo green/grey....

As for the white 'guano', it's my experience that ended up encrusted all over the decks. It's far easier for the shytehawks to perch down there than up in the 'aerial farm' at the mast top.