Aluminum corrosion definitely never sleeps
"Rust never sleeps"
The Vinylux will help but unless the corrosion is completely removed, it will probably come back.
Aluminum has one very interesting property, it oxidizes in a matter of seconds. In the marine alloys it also age hardens, but that's another story.
The etch primers, eg; zinc chromate-very nasty stuff! do a great job on clean aluminum. But they cannot cut thru raw heavy oxide. Guaranteed, if you cover over those corroded pits, the corrosion will return and your paint/ coating will fail.
If you intend to apply weld to these flaws you'll have to grind all the oxide out before weld will ever fuse. The reason Aluminum is welded with high frequency is because the pulsed arc is needed to punch thru the surface oxide/ even worse with corrosion. The melting temperature of the oxide is higher then the aluminum itself. If a higher amperage is used in place of high frequency, you'll just melt right thru the material.
I refinished my mast Summer before last, in my humble opinion, unless you've got vast craters weakening the mast then I would not bother with welding restoration. Clean out the cavity(s), apply the primers and then apply fillers for cosmetics. Reprime and topcoat.
