All it takes is patience! I recently painted mine with Awlgrip. Let's see what I can remembers....

1) I left the track on (too many screws) and masked around it.
2) I pulled most of the rest of the hardware using
a) hand impact
b) compressed air impact (broke a few that way)
c) lots of patience
d) lots of screwloose (that's the only brand I'll use -- forget WD40 and all the other water/kerosene based crap)

The trick is to work on it every day and once you get a screw moving force it in and out a few times AND THEN STOP -- it gets hot and that is when they break.

As for the awlgrip -- first I cleaned and light sanded, then I used two chemicals which I forget -- surely one was a major degreaser and the second an acid etch. Then two primers -- one because it is annodized and one between the first primer and the paint. I have accidentally hit the mast and boom with a hammer several times and can definitely say that the paint is on there for good.

Ted