Paint my aluminum Bass Tracker's hull

[D Hanny]

I'm looking for alternatives to just taking some spray paint cans of a good paint and spraying my bass boat white...

Still has to be inexpensive, though, but is there anything else I should look at that would give a sleeker finish?

A couple guys here at work say to rough the aluminum up and use a gel coat, but everyone else thinks that that won't hold very long.

Another guy told me to go for the Awlgrip system of priming and painting. I was just at their website, and while it does seem that they might have a good system for the aluminum, I'm going to have to spend a lot more time on the site trying to figure out which products to use (or... one of you aluminum painting experts could guide me a little).

If nothing out there is really going to be a great option that will last, I have no problem with attempting to make a spray-can finish look as nice as it can... and touching it up over the years with the very same (especially after reading posts by guys who have had spray-can finishes last for years).

I'll take any guidance. Thanks!

 

[jspansel]

Re: Paint my aluminum Bass Tracker's hull

I think I went as cheap as I could but still got a great finish...

I wire wheeled the loose paint off and around the rivets and seams to apply gluvit to seal the boat. You should just sand/brush the loose old paint if you have any. If it is still strong paint, I would leave it.

You should do a good clean of the aluminum to get the crap/oils etc off of it. I just used dawn detergent. After that a 50/50 vinegar bath and rinse. The aluminum should be dusted with a zinc chromate etching primer. I used zincrom at NAPA.

After that I used Rustoleum bare metal primer over everything...

Started with this:

Seen here is the bare metal primer. ZC was under this:

Then lightly scuff the surface. I used a scotch brite pad. Tac cloth off the dust.

I then brushed on Rustoleum Marine top coat. You can use just the regular Rustoleum though and get the same results ive heard. Roll and tip method works good. Roll it on and then use a brush at a slight angle and lightly brush the roller marks and it will give it a very smooth finish. My last coat had pumice antislip additive in it so I just rolled it and brushed where the roller couldnt get.

First coat:

I scotch brite the first coat and tack cloth off the dust.

Second coat:

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Paint my aluminum Bass Tracker's hull

Gelcoat is for fiberglass boats, not aluminum boats......

Look in the restoration forum as painting an aluminum boat has been covered many times. Basically sand the old paint, feather bare spots, lightly prime the bare aluminum with zinc chromate primer, then a couple coats of your paint of choice. Rustoleum has a good following here as it's a good "bang for the buck" paint, but don't expect it to last for ever. I painted my trailer with white Rustoleum 3 years ago and it's holding up nice. Application of the paint can be done by spraying, roll and tip, or roll and roll. Look these up in the restoration forum and see what will work best for you.

That said, if I was painting an aluminum hull and wanted it to last and look good for 5-10 years I would go with automotive paint. My Crestliner is painted with PPG paint and when I had to repaint the transom I used the same. Rustoleum enamel takes a couple weeks to cure (longer in cold temps) but catalyzed automotive paint is far less. I had a run/sag in my transom paint, waited 4 hours, sanded the sag out and re-sprayed the bottom color again, the same day. Heck I did a 2 color transom in 1 day (even with the goof-up) using automotive paint. The downside to auto paint is the price, $100 for 2 quarts of paint, catalyst, reducer, etc...

 

[halas]

Re: Paint my aluminum Bass Tracker's hull

Unless the boat is perfectly dentless it is a waste of money to use glossy automotive paints.
Brush on oil Rustoleum that is still available at Home Depot (all others like Glidden or Sherwin Williams stopped selling Oil based paints in gallons awhile ago) .
Roll the paint on and brush it out.
If it gets scratched you don't need to loose your mind just touch it up every couple years with the leftover paint. I am assuming you are going to use the boat for fishing verses taking it to boat shows.