First time painting a boat

[DarkSun]

When my Grand pa died he gave me his old aluminum boat 25 HP johnson motor and his 5 HP trolling motor. So far I had the 25 HP sent in to be cleaned and ready to be used, and now instead of 5 tries to get it started it works on the first try.<br /><br />Now I'm starting to work on the cosmetics of the boat. I'm redoing the seats, adding a hatch for a cooler and sealing it off with paint or something which I don't think it originally was. But my question is what must I do to prep it for painting? Do I have to get down to the bare aluminum? What do I prep it with? Is there anything else I need to do after or before the painting that I should know about? If it matters I'm going to be looking for perlescent or two/three tone paint to paint it with (any suggestions on stores? I live in Canada)<br /><br />Thanks for your input I hope you guys will help me more then google did.

 

[meangene21]

Re: First time painting a boat

Hey man, <br /> I am in the middle of painting my boat as well. Its just like painting a car. If you dont want anybody work done and If you go down to bare metal you will need to toss on a primer for the paint to stick to. Then you will need to paint it with the colors. Just make sure the boat is clean after each paint layer. The one thing you will have to consider is putting on a gelcoat or not!. Do a search on Gel coat but from what i gather its just a clear coating that is suppose to last 10x longer then just putting on a clear coat. <br /><br />Hope that helps.<br /> O clean the boat with just a watered down rag. Dont use any cleaners or you make cause issues with the paint..

 

[tengals123]

Re: First time painting a boat

a watered dowm rag will not do anything on a greasy or dirty surface. Acetone is great for preping a surface. Between coats, use a painters tack cloth.<br /><br />cheers

 

[Solittle]

Re: First time painting a boat

meangene21 - Why would he even consider using Gel Coat? His is a tinny.

 

[Winger Ed.]

Re: First time painting a boat

Go easy on sanding it. Its real easy to thin out the sheet metal or shave off the rivet heads.<br /><br />I use the softer wire brushes on a small angle grinder on my Al. hulls. Its fast, and doesn't damage the Alum. Just dress well as the wires will fly out of the brush as it wears, and they are like little darts.<br /><br />Put on a single full/wet coat of a good quality epoxy Chromate primer--- the 2 part kind-- don't be surprised when its about $30 a quart for each of the 'A' and 'B' parts for a base.<br /><br />Then, as mentioned, just go from there like you were painting a car.

 

[ErikDC]

Re: First time painting a boat

SoLittle is correct. Why gelcoat a tinny?