Refurbish mast base, if so how?

[Jokani]

My mast base is off at the moment, I have cleaned it, but it is looking very 'used'!

Would you just put it back as is, or would you refurbish it in some way, and then accept that it will need to be added to the regular maintenance list?

 

[Saraband]

I would clean up any of the white corrosion and then decide whether I wanted to paint it for protection / appearance. Hammarite do a primer for aluminium and then you can use their gloss or matt coatings as final finish.

More importantly, when reassembling I would make sure I used a barrier paste (eg Duralac) between the casting and any fastenings that hold the foot in.