Re: Painting an aluminum boat.....
I'm painting my aluminum boat now. This is my first boat and money was a factor for me. Everything really adds up when you buy it all at once. I know I'm going to get hell for this but I searched around online and found a lot of people used Rust-O-Leum on their boat instead of buying the marine paint. There are people who say it won't last, while others say it will. But I bought all my primer and paint for the same price as a gallon of marine paint. First thing I did was use sand paper to scuff up the areas I was painting. I purchased rustoleum aluminum primer and painted it with 2 coats. Then purchased the rustoleum oil based paint colors I wanted for my boat and painted over the primer also with 2 coats. I haven't had the boat out in the water yet but it's been out in the rain and so far so good. The water just beads up and rolls off. My boat won't be in the water all the time so I think it should hold up. If you are leaving it in the water, I'd go with the marine paint. You'll also need a self etching primer for that I believe. Like ezmobee said, there are a ton of threads here around it. That's where I got a lot of my information when I started. I'll be posting a thread about my boat and the work I did soon. Check it out when I do. It might help.
