Painting the lower unit

[Mac3]

Hi all,
Doing some late winter maintenance on my 98 Johnson 150 Ficht, have the lower unit off to do the impeller and on closer inspection thinking it could do with some cosmetics. Would it be ok to spray the leg with a marine 2 pack? I imagine the water pressure at 30kts would show up my painting short comings pretty quick or do you think the paint would stick ok. Cheers
David

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Painting the lower unit

People repaint lower units all the time with good results. I did a lot of cosmetic work on mine, followed by repainting with Moeller spray paint. My boat runs a good bit faster than 30 kts and I haven't had any paint come off from that yet.

I will say that in my case the paint doesn't hold up well to anything touching it (I get marks in the paint every time I run the engine on muffs, for instance). I think that's just a result of the paint itself, if you use a better quality paint your results should be great.

(edit to add: I didn't put that stupid link in "lower units" - and I sure wish that this website would quit that practice.)

 

[robert graham]

Re: Painting the lower unit

I use an automotive spray paint to touch up my skew/lower unit, but as with any paint, a brush across a couple of sandbars will polish it right down to shiny aluminum.

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: Painting the lower unit

If you prep and prime the surface properly you paint should be good for many years. Remember its most likely aluminum and needs an acid etching primer.

I would guess that those links help defray the cost of your annual membership fee for using this forum.

 

[Mac3]

Re: Painting the lower unit

Great, thanks guys. Thought that was the case, perhaps I've only seen dodgy repaints in the past. I'll get into it straight away.
cheers
David