Mast corrosion repair

[desertsailor]

This past week I was boat hunting for my first boat to own. While inspecting this boat on my own found some corrosion around a winch mounted to the mast. Is this something that is reasonably repairable, short of replacing the mast?

[Sailmonkey]

Impossible to tell from the photo, but most painted masts exhibit corrosion like this with no structural problems.

[Cheechako]

Very typical, it's the bronze winch and corrosive action on the aluminum mast. I had a mast rebuilt and within about a year off offshore and cruising, it was developing the same thing again. There are measures to help prevent it, although not 100% effective. Using a plastic shield on the winch base and teflon etc on the screws attaching the winch.

I swore if I had a mast repainted again I would leave the lower 10 feet, that gets doused with salt water, bare aluminum instead of paint.
It's usually just a bit of surface corrosion and not too deep, unless left for a very long time.
On something like that I would probably sand a ring around the winch to bare aluminum, then use the preventative measures and leave that ring bare.

[desertsailor]

Thanks for the info Sailmonkey and Cheechako. If I did purchase this boat and the marine survey has satisfactory results, then I should be able to remove winch, grind/sand off paint and blisters, then replace winch with an insulating gasket and seal. Correct?

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by desertsailor

Thanks for the info Sailmonkey and Cheechako. If I did purchase this boat and the marine survey has satisfactory results, then I should be able to remove winch, grind/sand off paint and blisters, then replace winch with an insulating gasket and seal. Correct?