I am currently refinishing a carbon fiber a-cat mast. Saarburg medium.. I have scraped all of the old peeling clear coat and have wet sanded the mast with 400 wet dry. I think that the last may have been re cleared previously, likely due to peeling finish. There are places on the mast that it seems the old clear oat is still adhering to the carbon fiber verywell. When sanded, these areas show up as more shiney and smoother spots. Also, there are some spots where the CF/old clear,has a bit of a hazy look . Also , a few razor nicks here and there. The mast exterior has a weave texture to it, so it is very hard to get everything off in these areas. How much should (dare) I sand to get a good finish v ruining the mast? Or is this a " screw it, it's gonna have to be good enough" situation?

A clear coat has mainly its purpose to protect the underlying surface (the carbon/resin laminate) against scratches and UV.

I'm not sure if that's your only objection. Or is it aesthetically too?

What new clear coat you want to apply? If it's PU based only roughing up the underlying base with light sanding will do the job.
It's clear that if you should change to a coloured finishing coat instead of a clear one, you have the least problems.

You then have to sacrifice the carbon-look though

I just want to make sure that the new finish looks good and doesn't end up all blotchy and splotchy. But I also don't want to put a week of weeks worth of work into the mast.

Then I would go for a non-clear coloured finish. The result is then less influenced by the underground.
The only demands are then a smooth and a good surface for adhesion. It will easily give a nice looking finish. UV protection is far out the best.

Plus, you can play a little bit with the design of the colours,
if you want.

Finally its also cool to not show your mast is of carbon!

hi Azcat. I clearcoated my mast, After it was in the same state as you have described. I used 2 pack clear coat (norglass), And painted it with a brush, Too lazy to spray it. (2 coats) The mast came up really well, From 3 feet away it looked like a new mast, When you got close you could see the brush marks and some of the blemishes that i could not get out with out really sanding the mast heavily.
I did have an email from Saarsberg mast somwhere, And he said only use 600 wet and dry on the mast, And don't sand into the carbon.
Hope this helps
Richard Campbell

I shot it today, 3 coats, looks friggin awesome!!! I havnt gotten it out of the shop yet into direct sunlight, but I have very good lighting in the shop and of looks great. Most of the spots I was worried about came out looking great. I used 2 coats of "Bulldog" first for better adhesion. I can't wait to get the A back on the water now!