Mercury paint

[swamp-fox]

I bought some Mercury Quicksilver Phantom Black to repaint my outboard. I did a test on a extra cowl support bracket. After letting it sit for about 24hours when I touched it, I left a white film..I have the Quicksilver clear coat on the way, but I couldn't wait so I just gave it a try. My question is- does it have to have the clear coat, I planned on using it anyway, however I'm wondering if I have some bad paint. (i tried 2 different cans)
Also I did use the green aluminum primer.

 

[saltwaterbluefish]

Re: Mercury paint

I had a similar experience with some rustoleum spray paint. It seemed like after i sprayed, waited, and then moved it, finger marks would appear. The only thing I could come up with is that the paint went on thick and was taking longer to dry then expected. I would suggest spraying a place, leave it for a week, and when you come back to it see if you get the same result. I have never tried clear coat on the boat motor, but I know for auto touch-ups it's a toss up.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: Mercury paint

I've used the ole Rusto rattle cans for several outboards and never had a problem at all....for Merc it's just gloss black.

 

[swamp-fox]

Re: Mercury paint

I thought about using rustoleum, but since the factory paint is readily avaliable I wanted to use it. And I may not paint all of it, like the motor mounts, so I want it to match.
The paint is dry even after 24 hours, none comes off on your finger. I have redone half of it. I think I will take your suggestion and wait a week, or at least til the clear coat comes in then try that.....if not I may have to go to the rusto.

 

[swamp-fox]

Re: Mercury paint

Here are a few pictures. I will wait for Saturday til I try and touch it and see if I'm still having the same problems. It came out way better than I expected! There was only two spots that no one but me will notice and one was me trying to pull some fuzz off before it dried.

This is the cowl stripped down with aircraft stripper and then sanded with 600 grit wet/dry


Then with moeller zinc chromate


Then 2 coats Phantom Black 1 clear coat

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: Mercury paint

Mercury could not have done any better...that looks great.

 

[swamp-fox]

Re: Mercury paint

Thank you!

I think I'm having some drying problems though. I wiped the dust from a spot on the bottom and it left light scratch marks...???...I guess I will leave it in the sun everyday for 4-5 more days. Even though it's getting up to the 80's where I'm at, it's still in the high 40's at night..So I think that has something to do with it...

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Mercury paint

I might be due to the HEAVY coat of Self Etching Primer. Usually you only use a LIGHT dusting of that stuff. I could also be the Coating schedule. How long did you wait between coats and the Clear?

 

[Flysfloatsor]

Re: Mercury paint

That looks great!

 

[swamp-fox]

Re: Mercury paint

I didn't think the zinc coat was that heavy. But I also didn't know it needed to be light. I even sanded a few places where the can shot out a few bigger specs of paint.

I waited 30 min. after the last coat then put the clear coat. That was the instructions on the paint and clear coat can. I have the rest of the motor to do so I will probably try all kinds of ways on these smaller parts. I think I'm going to prime the front cowl piece tonight then paint it on Saturday.

Any thoughts or application processes are well appriciated

 

[Icyharp]

Re: Mercury paint

I am going to agree with Wood on this, you only need to use a little bit of the Zinc primer. Many years ago in the Air Force taught me that when we refurbished an old B-52......lol they are all old....but at any point I too thought I was to spray the zinc like you would any other project, nope the paint will take forever to dry...it will dry but as a reminder for others not to use so much.

 

[swamp-fox]

Re: Mercury paint

Ok well thank you guys I will give that a try.

Kind of wierd that the can says to put 2 coats of primer though...

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Mercury paint

I have found that with ANY Rattle Can Paint that does NOT have hardener, MULTIPLE Light coats are ALWAYS the best way to go rather than one or two HEAVY coats. Heavy Coats Take FOREVER to Dry. They Look GOOD FAST but never seem to dry. LIGHT IS RIGHT when spraying from a can.