Stripping and repainting a Mast and Boom

[smithy09 50]

Hi All.

Any ideas regarding the cost of getting a 35ft yacht Alloy mast and boom removed from the yacht, stripped, repainted and replaced? Just a budget price would be really helpful.

 

Cheers, Smithy.

[MrWolf 0]

Of course we do them all the time but you will have to get a quote.

 

There are huge variations once the old fittings and paint are removed.

Some have very bad corrosion and we can chase our tail for days making sure it is all removed.

[smithy09 50]

So a rough idea? Are we talking $5K? $10K?? Ballpark for say a 20 yr old Y11 mast and boom? Just trying to get an idea of cost. Wouldn't hold you to it Mr Wolf!!

[MrWolf 0]

So a rough idea? Are we talking $5K? $10K?? Ballpark for say a 20 yr old Y11 mast and boom? Just trying to get an idea of cost. Wouldn't hold you to it Mr Wolf!!

 

In general between 10 and 13k will cover most in that size range.

 

at the 13 end of things it has bad corrosion (high painting cost) and needs electrical rewiring, some new fittings, etc (overall you'd say it was in bad shape).

[smithy09 50]

Thanks Mr. Wolf. That's really helpful!

[Guest Dry Reach]

So a rough idea? Are we talking $5K? $10K?? Ballpark for say a 20 yr old Y11 mast and boom? Just trying to get an idea of cost. Wouldn't hold you to it Mr Wolf!!

 

In general between 10 and 13k will cover most in that size range.

 

at the 13 end of things it has bad corrosion (high painting cost) and needs electrical rewiring, some new fittings, etc (overall you'd say it was in bad shape).

[wheels 543]

Mast work, hmmm, still a very sore point with me.

Mine is 16m tall, deck stepped. Old 15m one removed. New one fitted out with gear. Me doing most of the work. It did have new spreaders made by me. But cost of material in job. Spreader base made and fitted by rigger. All anodising done by me. Restepped and new rigging wire fitted. It does have twin backstays and a New VHF radio was fitted that was not on the old one.

I supplied Mast and Deck Step.

It cost me just over $15K, and I darn near had a heart attack as I was expecting about $7K.

To this day, I still can not understand how it came to so much.

[smithy09 50]

Jeeze! I've got to ask then, what's a new Y11 mast worth fully rigged? This is scary stuff!

[Murky 1]

Jeeze! I've got to ask then, what's a new Y11 mast worth fully rigged? This is scary stuff!

Have you broken it already, on the boat that I don't remember you announcing that you have bought? or are you just thinking about breaking it? Some of the photos that came up in the previous thread would suggest that it would take a lot of doing.

[smithy09 50]

Hi Murkey. No. Shall we say negotiations are ongoing.... Getting out the calculator is not a good thing with boats. Just had a look at another yacht of similar age and mast and boom are in similar condition. Just looking at what I am up for if I get the rigs repainted. My worry is that these rigs are 20 years old, have been raced regularly and have not had standing rigging renewed recently, so deserve a real good look. I'm just trying to get my head around the costs involved..

Call me a tyre kicker...

[rich2 0]

Ther owner of hullabaloo had his rig painted and tidied no idea what it cost but it does look great.

[Murky 1]

Hi Murkey. No. Shall we say negotiations are ongoing.... Getting out the calculator is not a good thing with boats. Just had a look at another yacht of similar age and mast and boom are in similar condition. Just looking at what I am up for if I get the rigs repainted. My worry is that these rigs are 20 years old, have been raced regularly and have not had standing rigging renewed recently, so deserve a real good look. I'm just trying to get my head around the costs involved..

Call me a tyre kicker...

Wouldn't call you a tyre kicker at all. In a sense we are lucky in NZ that we still have a decent supply of ever-popular 80s designs that are regularly changing hands at somewhere around 30-50% of their replacement cost if they were being launched today. However, that does mean that if you need to replace a major component, you will end up uttering the words "but that's #$& % of what I paid for the boat." And if you go through the boat putting all-new kit on - as many of us start of intending to do - then you will eventually end up with a boat that owes you one-and-a-half times its market value! As many of us do.

 

So I'd say don't race into a purchase knowing that one of those big-ticket items is coming up. But equally, pricing up stuff you don't really need to replace will just put you off what could be a good thing.

 

Remember you can always do things yourself (as many of us do, to be able to afford to own a boat) or get the professional guys to assist where required and do the grunt work yourself. In this case, that might mean pulling it out, inspection and any corrosion repairs but stripping, sanding painting etc might be something you can attempt and is often where the hours mount up.

 

I would guess that most people on this site are paying for only what is absolutely necessary.

[rigger 47]

an alternative to painting an ally mast is to polish it - Talk to Steve McCabe about it.

Friends of mine stripped their mast back and polished the mast and 4-5years down the track it still looks mint. Depends on what price you put on your labour?

[MrWolf 0]

an alternative to painting an ally mast is to polish it - Talk to Steve McCabe about it.

Friends of mine stripped their mast back and polished the mast and 4-5years down the track it still looks mint. Depends on what price you put on your labour?

 

Polishing a previously painted mast is waaaaaaay more expensive than a repaint.

 

Honestly could take 4 or 5 times longer, quite easily. In my experience we never make any money on polishing alloy jobs because they always take longer than you think.

 

Young 11 new rig, Smithy09, approx $35k in the boat ready to go (just ballpark here there are a squillion different options)

[smithy09 50]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. This really is a great site. Be sure that when I finally get my boatr you'll all hear as I will have a million new questions for you all. Cheers, Smithy.

[Guest]

I want to ask Wolf if that's alloy or carbon but too scared to drop the A word on someone known to have strong views on that

[Guest]

My mast is unpainted Alloy and sitting beside the yacht. There are 35 years of halyards banging marks on it, so it looks a little scruffy.

What is the method of polishing and likely hours/metre or cost/metre?

It seems a good time to do it while out.

[MrWolf 0]

I want to ask Wolf if that's alloy or carbon but too scared to drop the A word on someone known to have strong views on that

 

Was assuming alloy ? Carbon would be a lot more expensive than 35k for fully rigged.

[rigger 47]

My mast is unpainted Alloy and sitting beside the yacht. There are 35 years of halyards banging marks on it, so it looks a little scruffy.

What is the method of polishing and likely hours/metre or cost/metre?

It seems a good time to do it while out.

 

Give Steve McCabe a call.

He advised friends of mine do their mast themselves while they had the stick out, it was originally painted and looked very scruffy to start with.

I guess if you can do it yourself and you have the time it could be a cheaper option.

[Guest Dry Reach]

Easy to do your self. i've done several.

 

got to remove all paint and etch primer by stripping or sanding. Some people carefully use linbide scrapers but you have to be carefull so as not to gouge the alloy.

 

once back to bare alloy then sand smooth with various grades untiil you are down to a final sand with 350 400 grit (can be anal and use 500 grit). IE: depending on paint removal method and condition of alloy,first sand may be 120 then say 204, then 350/400.

 

then buy a good quality Automotive cutting compound (3M acrylic product is great)and cut the whole mast using a power buff (wool pad) or rags and elbow grease. this will remove scratch marks from last sand. keep cutting until alloy starts to go shiney and change the rags once they are black (use light coloured rags)

 

then cl;ean of all cutting compound and polish with a good quality Automotive wax. Again polishing small areas very hard until is starts to shine. Changes rags or buff pad regulary.

 

finally go over whole mast again with clean rag to remove residual (black contaminated polish)