freeisforme
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2009
- Messages
- 184
I looked at an aluminum boat last week which was in a local free paper for sale. When I went to see it the owner was in the process of swapping over his motor and seats to a larger hull. We agreed on a price, but the seller told me he wanted to get the other boat going before he sold the old one. The boat was in nice shape, all original, but needed some cleaning up and some new wood in the transom.
I went back to get the boat last night and found that the owner decided to do me the favor of painting it. He rolled the top side with enamel, which looks OK, he painted the rotted transom wood, no big deal, but he coated the bottom real heavy with copper based bottom paint, that old green stuff they used to use on wood boats.
I know it can't stay, copper + paint + aluminum + saltwater = Battery effect.
I got the boat super cheap, almost free, so I can't complain, I just loaded it up and left. The boat originally had a polished aluminum underside and it don't appear he sanded it or anything before painting. But it's on there thick.
I tried paint stripper but no go, it don't touch the stuff, its like a dry chalky coating that rubs off when you touch it. I got a good bit off with a scrub brush and dish detergent, but that will take a month. I did some with a pressure washer but that didn't work as well as the brush did.
Any ideas? It's a 16' boat and more than half the outer hull is coated. I suppose he put at least a gallon of the stuff on there. The hard part will be getting it off around the rivets and keel strip. It's also got 4 riveted on strakes that area also bleeding green paint. The stuff is dry, even where he dumped it on heavy but doesn't chip off. I made the best progress so far with hot water and a block of wood wrapped with some old wool carpet I found in the attic. My plan is to get this stuff off and give the thing a good coat of epoxy paint or maybe even polish it back to the way it was new.
If he hadn't painted it, I probably would have just hung a motor and gone fishing, it didn't look that bad in the first place but the fact that this is copper based paint, makes it a priority to get off there.
I went back to get the boat last night and found that the owner decided to do me the favor of painting it. He rolled the top side with enamel, which looks OK, he painted the rotted transom wood, no big deal, but he coated the bottom real heavy with copper based bottom paint, that old green stuff they used to use on wood boats.
I know it can't stay, copper + paint + aluminum + saltwater = Battery effect.
I got the boat super cheap, almost free, so I can't complain, I just loaded it up and left. The boat originally had a polished aluminum underside and it don't appear he sanded it or anything before painting. But it's on there thick.
I tried paint stripper but no go, it don't touch the stuff, its like a dry chalky coating that rubs off when you touch it. I got a good bit off with a scrub brush and dish detergent, but that will take a month. I did some with a pressure washer but that didn't work as well as the brush did.
Any ideas? It's a 16' boat and more than half the outer hull is coated. I suppose he put at least a gallon of the stuff on there. The hard part will be getting it off around the rivets and keel strip. It's also got 4 riveted on strakes that area also bleeding green paint. The stuff is dry, even where he dumped it on heavy but doesn't chip off. I made the best progress so far with hot water and a block of wood wrapped with some old wool carpet I found in the attic. My plan is to get this stuff off and give the thing a good coat of epoxy paint or maybe even polish it back to the way it was new.
If he hadn't painted it, I probably would have just hung a motor and gone fishing, it didn't look that bad in the first place but the fact that this is copper based paint, makes it a priority to get off there.
