Coating hull of aluminum boat that has remnants of roofing tar in corrosion pitting.

john.0

Recruit
Joined
Mar 24, 2014
Messages
4
I have the hull stripped of the tar and what was left of it's paint,it is corroded quite a bit and all over.It will be virtually impossible to remove every last bit of tar from the very porous corrosion.I absolutely do not want to re-coat it with roofing tar and I really doubt that painting it in any way would be successful.

The only thing I can think of is coal tar epoxy but I am not familiar with it and am not sure if it would be compatible with the tar that is left in the pitting.
Any ideas or advice would be great.
 

gm280

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
14,585
:welcome: john.0 to iboats...

Okay I've read your thread about the tar and pitting on the hull. You can use mineral spirits and a stiff bristle brush from most any home improvement store to remove the ta, even in the pitted areas. It will dissolve tar really quickly. And once all the tar is removed from even the pitted areas, you can apply some high build sandable primer and long board sand until it is smooth and then it would be ready to paint. And it would look amazing and there would be no pitting to see anymore... Just a thought!
 

john.0

Recruit
Joined
Mar 24, 2014
Messages
4
Thanks for the welcome and thanks for the reply gm280.

I've tried exactly what you have recommended with mineral spirits and a coarse stainless brush aswell as a fine bristle with minimal success.
The problem is that the pitting is scaly and flaky with nooks and crannies that a brush cannot reach.If I put a torch on the seemingly clean areas tar will leach out.Other than flushing all the corrosion with large amounts of a strong solvent I really don't think I could get it all out.
 

gm280

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
14,585
Thanks for the welcome and thanks for the reply gm280.

I've tried exactly what you have recommended with mineral spirits and a coarse stainless brush aswell as a fine bristle with minimal success.
The problem is that the pitting is scaly and flaky with nooks and crannies that a brush cannot reach.If I put a torch on the seemingly clean areas tar will leach out.Other than flushing all the corrosion with large amounts of a strong solvent I really don't think I could get it all out.

Okay I think I understand. Could you post a few pictures so we can see what you're dealing with. There is an option to have it media blasted to clean it up for another finish... JMHO!
 

john.0

Recruit
Joined
Mar 24, 2014
Messages
4
It's an old 13 foot boat that I bought cheap ($150)mainly for the trailer,definitely not worth the cost of media blasting it.

You can see where the tar leached out and burned from the torch,it even came out from under the rivets so it's in there deep.pitting.jpg
 
Top