Paint old cowling

[daveydoodle]

Hello Skippers, Like to dress up the fiberglass cowling (engine cover) on my 87 Johnson 140. Has a few nicks & gouges too. Does this have to be sanded down to bare glass? What material to fill in/sand & feather in the gouges? Getting some after market decals too. I do not have the equipment for a pro spray & plan on a few cans of spray , what is best? Anything I do to it will be an improvement. Thanks for any info. Never painted fiberglass.

 

[daveydoodle]

Re: Paint old cowling

Skippers tried to edit but wanted to add after reading similar I am not concerned with color match. May even change to a grey to match boat trim , so not a concern. Thanks again

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Paint old cowling

You can use just about any paint you want. Home Depot sell a nifty little Painting tool called a PreVal Sprayer that will allow you to Spray any paint you want. I would recommend a good quality two Part Acrylic Enamel with a Hardener. You can use 3M Marine filler to fill the Gouges. I'd strip as much of the old paint off as possible and get it down to bare glass if you can. Paint stripper will work fine. 180 grit paper to finish her off with. Make sure to use a couple of coats of primer that's recommended for the paint.

Restoration Shop - AE Acrylic Enamel

Or you could go the CHEAP route and use Rustoleum Pro Oil Based. It's Acrylic Based too and you can add the Hardener to it as well. Works good. You can find info on how to do that here...

"Paint Your Boat for Under $100 Bucks...Well Almost"

 

[daveydoodle]

Re: Paint old cowling

Thanks Woodonglass very informative & info..Have watched a lot of your videos..

 

[Watermann]

Re: Paint old cowling

I suggest that you go the extra mile and do a complete job on the entire motor, not just the cowl. I used rutoleum primer and automotive enamel on my motor, then finishing the cowl with clear coat. I have to say the results turned out to be great and the paint is very durable.

 

[daveydoodle]

Re: Paint old cowling

Very nice job Watermann, Did you clear coat over or under the decals?? After pricing those after mkt decals bet you got more in them than paint??

 

[Watermann]

Re: Paint old cowling

Thanks, and I applied the decals on over the clear and yes they were expensive but worth it have what looks like a new motor. I think it even runs better with them...

Here is where I got mine, and I think these are the ones you need.

Johnson Outboard Decals big block V4 or V6 late 1980's

 

[daveydoodle]

Not the pro finish but sand down to glass and used 2 cans of Rustolium for plastic and vinyl, did med. gy. metallic, turned out good for 10 bucks. And some after market decals & pin striping.Better than expected.

 

[gm280]

Davey, I did exactly what you are wanting to do. But I did spray my cowling and didn't buy any decals. I actually painted on everything with a little taping and air brush technique. And then I clear coated over everything. It came out nice and will hold up for a long time because the paints I used had UV protectors in the clear coat. Here is my finished cowling. If you like it, you can click on the engine rebuild thread below and see how I actually did it... JMHO!



Easy to do and if I can do it anybody can...

 

[Woodonglass]

Uhmmm Guys this thread is 2 years Old!!!!

 

[gm280]

Sorry I didn't see that...my bad! :sorry: :facepalm:

 

[GA_Boater]

Settle down guys. Davey is the OP. It helps to look at more than just starting date on posts. Isn't he allowed to follow up? We'd like to see more of that.

 

[Woodonglass]

Yeah now it's MY BAD!!!! DUHHHH:facepalm:

 

[GA_Boater]

Don't feel bad, Wood. We've all done the same. I know I have.