Thank you David.  It sounds like everyone is in agreement that glass then epoxy is the best way to go.  I really wish Etoile was fashioned in this manner but we will do it right.  Hopefully the timing works out when we have the masts out and can work with the boat yard to get this done.  Appreciate your input.  Footprints is beautiful.

Jason
David Thatcher wrote:

Hello Jason, The mast on Footprints is of timber so I have had some experience with this. There is a lot of wear on the mast from the action of the sail and battens and I noticed this especially when we did two ocean crossings, although for both of these crossings the sail was to windward of the mast and the battens and yard were sitting in the same position for days. There would have been a lot less wear if the mast had been to windward at least part of the time. I did have our mast out and repainted it with the single pack Toplac system before we went offshore but there have since been some areas where the paint has completely worn away exposing bare timber, which I have epoxy coated in the interim. The risk with having bare timber exposed is that it could eventually lead to rot in the mast. So for better longevity of the paint system maybe a two pack paint system would be best because those types of paints are a lot harder and more wear resistant. Knowing what I know now if I ever have the mast out of our yacht again, or do another timber mast for a junk rig boat, I would definitely fiberglass at least half the circumference of the mast. This would provide much better wear resistance and protection of the timber.

If you use a single pack paint system to repaint or just tidy up your masts you will need to go through the normal process of sanding back, priming the bare patches. possibly best done with epoxy resin, then apply a suitable undercoat surfacer to the area to be painted, followed up by 2 coats of the finishing paint. If you decide to go to a 2 pack system you will probably need to remove all of the existing paint and start again as 2 pack paints are not compatible over single pack systems.

Another option instead of painting might be to coat the mast with one of the very durable oil based clear finishes which are available these days, I think Deks Olje is one such finish. The idea behind this is that the oil would penetrate well into the timber and if an area becomes worn it is a lot easier to refinish from a bosuns chair than it is with having to redo a paint system with it's multiple coats.

It will be interesting though to hear of experiences and comments from other people with timber masts.

Hello Jason, The mast on Footprints is of timber so I have had some experience with this. There is a lot of wear on the mast from the action of the sail and battens and I noticed this especially when we did two ocean crossings, although for both of these crossings the sail was to windward of the mast and the battens and yard were sitting in the same position for days. There would have been a lot less wear if the mast had been to windward at least part of the time. I did have our mast out and repainted it with the single pack Toplac system before we went offshore but there have since been some areas where the paint has completely worn away exposing bare timber, which I have epoxy coated in the interim. The risk with having bare timber exposed is that it could eventually lead to rot in the mast. So for better longevity of the paint system maybe a two pack paint system would be best because those types of paints are a lot harder and more wear resistant. Knowing what I know now if I ever have the mast out of our yacht again, or do another timber mast for a junk rig boat, I would definitely fiberglass at least half the circumference of the mast. This would provide much better wear resistance and protection of the timber.

If you use a single pack paint system to repaint or just tidy up your masts you will need to go through the normal process of sanding back, priming the bare patches. possibly best done with epoxy resin, then apply a suitable undercoat surfacer to the area to be painted, followed up by 2 coats of the finishing paint. If you decide to go to a 2 pack system you will probably need to remove all of the existing paint and start again as 2 pack paints are not compatible over single pack systems.

Another option instead of painting might be to coat the mast with one of the very durable oil based clear finishes which are available these days, I think Deks Olje is one such finish. The idea behind this is that the oil would penetrate well into the timber and if an area becomes worn it is a lot easier to refinish from a bosuns chair than it is with having to redo a paint system with it's multiple coats.

It will be interesting though to hear of experiences and comments from other people with timber masts.