Allright, here's the mast all shined up and hung for painting. Notice its hung at an angle with the sail track pointing down? This is so liquid doesn't get stuck in the sail track. Boatyard trick they told me with the list of instructions I received.

Simple but effective.

All this just to get the mast primer coated?!?

1. Lets see, Alumiprep acid etch.
2. Aladyne surface sealer.
3. Two part Zinc Cromate primer
4. Two part epoxy high filler whatever primer.

Each coat has its instructions, warnings and hints. I've never used or even seen any of this stuff so I know basically nothing about how it should all go.

Intimidating!

Hard to see but the mast is coated in the Aladyne sealer here.

The Alumiprep was a lot like just washing the thing except using acid instead of soap. Used a Scotchbright pad and scrubbed it in all over. Garden hose to wash it off.

Next was washing everything down with the Aladyne. That was a pain. The bottle says to leave it on for about 3 minutes before rinsing it off, but don't let it dry on there. Well heck! After about a minute its drying. I don't know if I did this step right or not. Some is brown, some looks like there's nothing on there. Arrgh!

Talked to Art and he said it was supposed to look all blotchy. Gorgie painted her boom about seven years ago. She laughed and laughed over the phone; "Uh huh that's right, you'll never catch me doing that again!"

Ok, for better or worse its ready to be primed. Art said that I must do both coats Zinc and Primer the same day. To get enough time for this, one must start early in the morning. Wrap the mast so that the dew doesn't settle on it. This way, it'll be dry and ready to paint.

He gave me some paper to wrap the thing. Pulled it off the roll by hand. Was within a couple inches of the exact length of the mast. Pretty impressive guesswork there!

Wrapped and ready to paint in the morning.