spray or handpainting an old anodised ali mast

[sarabande]

I have a (new to me) ali mast which has a dark grey anodising treatment that looks a bit tired and worn. The mast is currently on stands at ground level, being stripped of all the running and standing rigging.

From a search across the forum, I understand that it's possible to use a 2 pot paint on top of ali.

What experiences do people have of spray or hand painting please ?

BTW, I want to go for bright white or bright yellow, for functional safety reasons. Will I be committing an aesthetic faux-pas ? (The rest of the boat is dark green and varnished wood, with grey non-slip decks.)

 

[saltylegs]

I have used 2 pot white on top of an etch primer and 2 pot undercoat on mast, boom, spinny pole and spreaders with good results just brushed on.
not tried spraying 2 pot so cant comment on that.

 

[Jcorstorphine]

I refurbished a very tired mast last year where the anodizing was scraped and faded. I abraded the entries mast to get a key for the paint and then used a self etch primer and gave it two coats. Then used bog standard Hamerite Aluminium smooth (not hammer) and the result was quite good. However, Hamerite is not what it used to be and after taking the mast down and storing for the winter, there was a couple of scratches showing but it looks far better than it was.

I also restored an old boom which had been painted by using paint remover to remove about 4 layers of white paint, then abraded as per the mast and that looks really good.

The secret is in getting the best self etch aluminium primer as a base coat and I am not sure I used the best but the paint is still sticking.

PS I have seen one yellow mast and from a distance, it looked like a wooden mast

PPS, if you look at my album, you can see the mast in the first pic.

 

[Tradewinds]

Epifanes Washprimer has a good reputation by those who use it in the workshop at SYH.

http://www.boatpaint.co.uk/acatalog/Boatpaint_co_uk_Shop_Epifanes_Wash_Primer_AQ__One_pot__178.html