Mast Bands
Our lanai “workshop” overlooking Nawiliwili Bay and the beach at the Westin Kauai (currently the Marriott Kauai Beach Club)
Mast bands are iron rings that encircle the mast at strategic locations and are used to attach rigging securely to the mast. The bands are usually in two pieces that bolt together and often have a protruding loop or tab for blocks, line, stays, spreaders, booms and gaffs to attach. Think of a choker necklace with an enhancer for the pendant to hang from. Now imagine that choker is for a giant and the enhancer supports hundreds of pounds of rigging as well as the tension created by heavy winds on a thousand square feet of sail.
When we inherited Elixir all her bands had been removed from the masts and spars. They had been thrown in cardboard boxes and stored outside in the humid tropical air of the Hawaiian Islands for many years. Did I say they usually have two parts? And did I mention that the two parts were not together anymore and there were no labels or notes of where anything came from or attached to? Rusty and corroded, they had little or none of their original beige and white paint.
We had done a thorough inventory upon arrival on the island, including measurements of each piece and a sketch of any attachments they had. Tosh poured over old photographs and rigging books, labeled each piece and compiled a reassembly plan. But were the bands salvageable?
The day arrived to find out. I sandblasted each of these pieces down to sound metal to determine if they were restorable or if we needed to fabricate new bands. It was a noisy, filthy project and despite the heat of the tropics, I needed full body protection from the flying sand, toxic paint and metal dust.
Sandblasting old paint, rust and corrosion from the bands.
The end of the day revealed good news; there were no areas where the metal was too thin to reuse. However, the bands would need to be regalvanized: the iron recoated with a layer of zinc to protect it from rusting. They were promptly loaded into a plywood box and shipped to the foundry in Honolulu.
A month later, the wooden crate arrived back in the boatyard, all the pieces freshly coated in a bright new layer of zinc … and ready for paint.
Freshly galvanized mast bands.
We decided to move the painting project to the porch on our condo, away from the dust and noise of the boatyard. Constantly cooled by the trade winds, it was a perfect workshop, with a spectacular view!
After researching, the best paint for the job was epoxy paint: it would last the longest and it would provide the best protection for the metal. But … it was highly toxic to use, hence the outside workshop, gloves and respirator.
Mast bands painted with long-lasting epoxy paint.
After a week of curing on the deck, the pieces were carefully put back in their crate for another year until we were ready to consolidate the rigging.
Prior to stepping the masts, the bands were assembled on the masts with their attending blocks, lines, stays and spreaders attached. Miraculously, everything went back together and functioned, despite the initial lack of labels and instructions. Well done, skipper!
Bands in place on the masts.
