Chemistry question for prepping mast for paint

[JerseyJoe]

Ok. In process of stripping 36 year old paint job on a Famet aluminum mast and boom. Once done what next? I read all the prior mast anodize or paint threads but still a bit confused on the chemical timeline and necessity in prep not being a alchemist. Chime in all you chemistry wizards!

Is it Alumiprep 33 followed by zinc chromate or alondine. Do alodine and zinc chromate do the same thing? One or the other better? Both?

After these steps would Nyalic be a better top coat option than a 2 part epoxy? Imron or Awlgrip? Paint then Nyalic on top? Or is that overkill? Just Nyalic alone on bare metal? What say you?

Anyone have actual marine environment experience with Nyalic?

In end a pretty white mast and boom is nice and returns spars to OEM specs, but I'm fine with whatever will not break piggy bank, elbow or lungs in process and will last long enough that I do not have to do again prior to 36 years. By then it will be somebody else's headache.

[hellosailor]

Joe, your best bet is probably to buy an entire system of compatible products from one vendor. Etch, prime, paint, seal, with products that all come from one vendor and are warranteed to work with each other. And of course, stick to their instructions for the entire process.

[model 10]

It's strip, clean, acid etch then alodine. Alodine is a chromic acid treatment.
After that an epoxy primer. There are variations on this, with zinc chromate wash primers etc. etc. However you can't go wrong with a proper epoxy primer over an alodine surface treatment. Forget zinc chromate spray bombs.

[Stumble]

Call one of the coatings companies that you are looking at using and ask their tech support guys for step by step advice. Then follow that advice to the letter.

They spend huge amounts of money testing and designing products, and no Internet forum can give as good advice.

As for which system works the best... That may be a reasonable question here.

[cll2]

If you'd like to see a guy go through the process on his own masts this fellow did a great job of documenting the process. This is where he begins the work, but it goes on for several posts.

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