Advice Needed on Prepping and Painting an Alum. Boat

[Patfromny]

Re: Advice Needed on Prepping and Painting an Alum. Boat

gm280, way to put my trailer to shame. Truly inspirational stuff right there. You listed your comp.'s HP but not the gallon capacity though. I agree with you about prep. I am a finish carpenter/ house painter and I prep prep prep. My customers are usually ticked at me because they don't see the progress until the last day or so. If you prep right, the painting just flies. I consider this thread prep too. I want to know exactly what to do and not to do.

Wood, Thanks for the input. I have read your whole BF thread and read hundreds of your always helpful replies on many a thread. I am a bit concerned with this compressor for the reasons you listed. The problem I have is the budget. I can't see spending four or five hundred on a tool that will paint this boat and blow out my sprinklers once a year. lol, I'm sure it will get a bit more use than that but not enough to justify the investment. I am also planning on leaving this boat in the water for the season so, as per your $100 dollar process, I cannot use rutso. Which I think means imron or awl grip will be used? I Think this means spraying is my only option. What do you think of my piggy back idea? HF has a 7 gal. air tank on special in one of their 5 ads this week for cheap. I thought that was a cost effective way to get my set up to 32 gals. I have a 4 hp 25 gallon compressor (craftsman if it matters).

Waterman, thank you. I agree with you and need this type of reply throughout this process. I am a perfectionist but I'm not going to paint the whole thing over if I find a bug in the finish. I am tarping my garage off(mostly to protect the firebird and other things also inside) with some 3 mil plastic I have left over from a job and will wet(dampen) down the floor to keep the dust to a minimum. I will also have a few box fans with a/c filters drawing air out of the space. I realize this is all I can reasonable due to prevent such things but I fully expect dust, bugs, and maybe some fish eyes. If I prep right I have done all I can do. I can't control the other stuff, not to mention my inexperience. Like I said before, I want any mistakes to be in the painting.

Thanks one and all for the help. I did get some work done over the week. I could only scratch about two hours out of the schedule but am happy with the progress. More pics tomorrow eve, Going to the Yankee game tomorrow with the wife, daughter and daughters friend. Should be a day full of popcorn, cotton candy ,hot pretzels and jumbo $17 sodas. I could have bought that compressor with what I will spend on junk tomorrow. but Hey, it's hat day...so I got that goin for me...which is nice.

 

[Patfromny]

Thanks for all the advice way back then guys, I wound up lifting it with eye bolts in the ceiling joists and ratchet straps. It worked great and I was able to lower the boat on it's side on a carpet to sand it all out. I etched and epoxy primed it with it hanging and realized several things. The compressor was at the bitter edge of it's ability as WOG had suggested, I was no pro with a gun while laying on my back and it was hard to do the length of the boat this way, and I simply didn't think I had enough room to paint the two colors and have it come out nice. I called an auto body friend who I had played Softball for/ and he gave me a deal on painting it. He had a new guy do it before and after work and I just paid the kid to do so.it came out nice.



I am just buttoning up some odds and ends I haven't gotten to and need some advice. I am painting the side channel pieces that hide the transition from deck to the side of the hull. They are also storage space. Anyway. I came across some of the worst pitting I have encountered on the boat. These pieces are bent three or four times on a brake to make the shape and a piece of half inch ply was bolted to it to make the channel for storage. The pitting was behind the ply where it is bolted to the aluminium piece. It isn't seen when the whole thing is bolted together.

My question is, should I fill these pitting holes with jb weld or does it matter. They will never be seen when reassembled because the wood wrapped in vinyl is there. I don't really know why it pitted. The vinyl seems to be wrapped up above the screws that hold the wood in place and they seemed to use Ronel staples (they are bronze in color with no sign of corrosion). I am stripping the paint and etch priming, epoxy priming and painting. I have hit these pits with a wire brush and plan to wash down with vinegar. Is this sufficient or should I fill the holes to make sure the corrosion will not continue? If it helps in answering my question, it appears that these aluminium pieces were just painted. No sign of primer and the paint seems translucent. You can see the aluminium underneath on the sections that are still in good shape. Here is a few pics of the pitting. It is only in 6 spots or so along the length of the piece.



Here is were the pitting was, in between the wood and aluminum










The hole is for the screw but the pitting is deep. Let me guys know what you think. Thanks

 

[Woodonglass]

I'd mix up some JB weld and thin it with a small amount of xylene. It will be easier to fill those pits.

 

[Watermann]

If the pit's are in an area that will be noticed and it bothers you then by all means fill, sand smooth and prime/paint over them. The main thing was get rid of the corrosion and stop it from spreading.

 

[Patfromny]

Thanks WoG and Watermann, I found some tiny ones in an area that will be seen so I will go the xylene route. I'm pretty ocd so i prob. Would have done it anyway. I was using the jb stick of epoxy to fill the snap holes so i will have to do a depot run and buy the two part squeeze bottle type. The vinegar will stop the corrosion right? That is what neutralizes it? Trying to remember the sequence. Sand smooth, vinegar, jb, sand, acetone, etch, epoxy prime, paint? Sound right or vinegar last? I stripped them today and there was no primer, just Paint on aluminium. Weird, we have owned since new so this was from AMF.

 

[Watermann]

Sounds like a pretty good order to do things to me :thumb:

 

[Patfromny]

Excellent, thanks Watermann and Wood. Gonna finally get to spray color. Gave up and bought the color last time. Lol

 

[pckeen]

For some reason, none of your pics came through - but I've seen that with a couple of photobucket pics threads recently.

In terms of pitting - if the hidden pitting is on areas above the waterline, as it seems to be then I wouldn't bother filling it. If it is below the waterline, I would - the aluminum will be thinner in the areas of the pits, so some JB weld will be a good bit of insurance.

 

[Patfromny]

Hi pckeen, the areas are inside the boat so hopefully they will always be above the water line. Lol the areas are hidden, mostly, behind a piece of wood but there are a few on a part that shows. I will have to mix jb for the visible ones so I thought I might as well do them all. Thanks for the input. I think iboats or photo bucket were having issues. last night I went to post on my build thread and every pic I had posted was gone with a photo bucket icon saying I posted them incorrectly. They are back now thankfully.

 

[Patfromny]

Hey WoG, if you're still checking in I have a few questions for you. I am going to replace the wood that bolts to these metal pieces. I am going to seal them using your three part mixture. I see that you recommend polyurethane but I have also seen people using shellac instead. Do you have a preference? Was thinking that the poly mixes better? Does the sheen level of the poly matter or, I should say, do you have a preference on sheen level to mix into the first coat? And finally (until I remember any other questions) should I scuff the wood in between coats 1 and 2? It'seems really a shame that I didn't get to this until now. I have about a gallon of epoxy left from when I did the deck and supports but it is 3 years old. What a waste of money.

 

[Woodonglass]

I wouldn't use Shellac. I use Gloss Poly since it has more solids and is much more durable. I do scuff between the final coats of Poly with a Scotch Brite Pad.

 

[Patfromny]

Thought so on the shellac , volume solids, didn't think of that. Thanks for the advice. Figures gloss is the only one I don't have. Gonna be at the paint Store tomorrow AM anyway. thanks again.