I have been getting good results with Schilling Enamel Paint Inc. in Cleveland (216-252-6242). It is a one part top coat over an etching primer. It cross links very well with the original Marinette paint on my project 32'. It is the least expensive paint and they will color match. The big problem is that they do not ship. I can pick it up as I travel back and forth to my camp in Pa. The other problem is that it does not roll well. I bought a nice fugi turbine spray unit for most of the boat and brushed on some with good results.

I am reseaching a local source for my next project. It is a 28' sedan with multiple coats of who knows what on it. I have been in contact with local suppliers and they assure me that they can provide me with paint which as good as any brand name marine or auto paint without the huge markup. One guy runs a Sherwin Williams store and supplies a local boat yard with paint for the big lake tugs and barges they build. He just never ordered by the gallon before. He told me they painted a mayfiy into the paint on a railing. A guy went to brush it off and the petrified wings cut open his hand. Now thats a testimonial. I will be checking back with him.

My criteria. Ability to color match. One part over etching primer. Compatibily with polyester finishing putty or a high build primer. Option to roll-on, brush or spray.

My approach. No stripping the whole boat to bare metal. There is too much filler, I can't afford much help and I ain't no pro. I sand starting with 80 grit working my way toward 120 or 150 to get the dead paint off. If I hit bare metal I spot spray with the etching primer. If I pick up filler I replace it with West Marine Waterproof filler (Epoxy with Micro balloons works well too). The original filler is very soft and needs to be kept sealed in. Now depending on the condition of the area I decide what to do next. Scuff for the top coat. Prime the whole area with high build or regular primer. Apply finishing putty and power sand. After this I go over the whole area with a mico-fiber cloth in one hand and a scotch pad in the other. When the micro-fiber quits "grabbing" the surface and sweeps smoothly across it I am ready for the top coat. You can sand or compound any roughness out of the top coat but only if the base is smooth to begin with.

I would go one step up from rustoleum spray cans which are not really that cheap. You can get one of those Harbor Freight $49 turbine spayers and get good results. You should use an etchant or etching primer on the bare aluminum. For patching, look for a system you can roll or brush as well as spray. Choose a paint system and stick with it. The real expense and time is in the preparation and you can choose how much of that you want to do. Don't put any rustoleum type home center stuff on your boat until you find out what is in it.

The paint you use now will determine how much work you have to do when you paint it next time.
If you use a one-part paint, chances are it will have to be completely removed before you paint with a two-part epoxy
primer or top coat next time. If you sand it off, you'll spend a fortune on sanding disks. They gum up fast.
Some yards use a paint stripper to save time but it will soften any paint it touches, so it's hard to control and a mess to clean up.

In the long run a shortcut can sometimes take longer.

I'm using Yooper's method. My 1982 32' sedan bridge has never been repainted so I need to fill in 27 years of pinholes, alligatoring, cracks and corrosion spots by the stanchions. I have the top coat paint but I'm looking for the right primer now. I need to find one that doesn't melt the original Marinette paint. Anyone found one?

Yoop:
From what I can tell, the original Marinette paint on my 1982 was a one-part air cured system.
It was a very good system for its time. Most of the paint on my big M has held up well considering
it has been stored outside in the weather for 27 summers.
I agree with your theory about the pinholes being caused by solvent from the primer or base coats.
The topcoat I'm using is by Akzo Nobel the makers of Interlux. It's a mil-spec aircraft coating.
I talked to the tech guys at A/N and they claim that it is formulated to resist impacts, abrasion, fluids, solvents and uv degradation.
One guy was very helpful and spent 45 minutes explaining industrial coatings to me. He said that in a few minutes, aluminum aircraft go from sea level to 50,000 where they are subjected to intense uv radiation. That's what causes paint to loose its gloss and then start to chalk.
Thermodynamics cause the aluminum to expand and contract which can cause cracking and delamination. This stuff is supposed to resist
those problems. The mil-spec of this topcoat also requires it to be compatible with several mil-spec primers from other sources. I should be able to use any of them. The problem is that most the primers are formulated to be very thin to save weight on the plane. I need one that will be high-build and impact resistant. I have the mil-spec numbers of all the primers that are compatible so my search is a lot easier.

Great thread on painting!

The previous owner of my boat used "plain old paint" (his words) on the deck and cabin tops. He had lots of stuff stuck on the boat, so I have some big and small holes to fill. (Including holes from mounting a variety of antennas including a first-generation GPS antenna. No use for that on the Ohio River!) So I use the epoxy filler to take care of the holes?

The old paint job stuck well but is very flat and chalky. Sounds like I don't have to take it all the way to bare metal. There's also some sort of stick-on non-skid on the deck. It's not bad, but I wonder if I should peel it off.

Thanks.

Joe

When I painted my Marinettes, my model was that the first coat of new paint, the primer, is held on by mechanical and adhesive lock to the old surface. So, plenty of sanding is necessary and a really clean surface. Chalk is not a clean surface. After the primer coat, the next coats are held mostly by chemical bond to the previous coat. For the reactive paints (Awlgrip 2000, a polyester two part reactive boat paint), there is a window of time where the next coat can be applied and still achieve chemical bonding to the previous coat. This is where many people make mistakes. They get busy with other responsibilities and fall outside the "chemical bond" window. On the last paint job, it took 7 consecutive days of painting. Where there was bare aluminum exposed, like around the stanchions, the layers were milspec anti-corrosion primer, standard epoxy primer, epoxy filler, epoxy primer, epoxy primer, white top coat, black top coat. There was sanding between each coat and wipe down with tack rags. Lots of masking too. I have never had a paint peeling problem on these boats.

The first Marinette I bought was freshly painted with Imron. For the first five years, it looked great. Then the cracking and peeling began. I had an expert from DuPont look at the job one time. He told me the reason for the cracking was too thick on the paint laydown, and the reason for the peel was waiting too long between coats. I called the previous owner, and sure enough, he waited a full week between the white topcoat and the clear coat, which was applied too thick. The DuPont guy recommended that white paints not be clear coated - the clear coat will yellow wherever there is loss of adhesion, and the stark white background makes it obvious. If you are going to clear coat, it is really important to do it in the window of time where chemical bonding to the colored topcoat will occur.

On my last paint touchup, the materials cost right around a thousand dollars. The labor for helpers to do the sanding, masking and cleanup was about $2000. Hopefully, I will not need to do this painting again for 20 years.

Paul

I posted this Link last June. It is a long thread written by an aluminum boat painter with common sense that really knows his stuff. It has plenty of pictures taken as he refurbished his 23'. He shows how to strip a hull starting with a grinder, paint on a "tell" coat and then polishing the highlighted grinder marks out with 180. If any of you guys want to go bare bottom this is the way. He makes a good case against chemical paint strippers. I've read though it several times - always something new.

http://www.riverjetmagaz...VAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear


I read it again today looking for weaknesses in my procedures. One thing I spotted was how to use the cleaner degreaser. I kind of wiped in on letting excess evaporate. Wrong! Any contaninents floated out are still there. You need to really scrub the area dry. You need to give it a final cleaning after taping because you know you touched it.