Wooden mast restoration

[adrianmorgan]

I have a 70ft spruce mast to refurbish up here in the north west of Scotlannd, ie cool and wet. It will need stripping before recoating. I've been wrestling with the options.
1. Coelan - the full treatment
2. Varnish (traditional, thinned, progressively then neat)
3. UCP or Blakes wood sealer then lots of varnish
4. Varnol, lots, to soak in, then varnish
5. Deks Olje

Getting the damn thing out of the boat was hard enough, before transporting 10 miles by tractor and trailer up the glen, so it needs to last at least five years.

 

[Mirelle]

Just to add to what I said on Scuttlebutt: after 8 years of total neglect (no recoating) the Coelan has gone a little dull. The coating is completely intact and still flexible. The other finishes were re-coated, but failed badly enough to warrant stripping within six and seven years.

My wife has specified Coelan everywhere on deck, and we will do the spars as well when the time comes.

 

[adrianmorgan]

Thanks for that. Coelan seems to be the way to go, albeit expensive. But then I'm not paying.

 

[BrendanS]

Look for posts by Ccscott. He has a beautiful boat called Englander, made of Iroko, which is based in Med, he swears by Coelan and it takes a hammering there.

 

[submariner]

We have a 50 foot sitka spruce hollow pear shaped mast from the 60s. We have had great success applying Endura clear 2 part polyurethane topcoat which has a great UV inhibitor. We race our boat heavily putting quite a lot of stress on the rig and this product performs beautifully and stays bright and glossy. The trick is to get enough thickness on.