[murphoir]

I have recently purchased a 20hp mariner approximately 1986 and it has several scabs/blisters on the paint work as well as the usual wear and tear scratches etc. Can anyone tell me if I need to use a special type of filler, primer and paint or can I just use standard car products? I will be using it in both fresh and sea water.If anyone can answer this then it would be most appreciated. p.s what a great website I just found it the other day,posted a question on it today and had a response within 10 minutes!!!!!!!

[lexkyboater]

Welcome to iboats. Here's a good primer on applying paint - http://continuouswave.com/maintenance-logs/paintSkeg/. Also http://www.nymarine.ca/Tips.html and the best advice I've seen is at http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001031.html. Here's one of the quotes:

1.Shoot a very thin coat of the zinc.
2.While zinc is still wet, shoot a thin coat of sandable primer. The two will combine and allow the topcoat to adhere. If you wait for the zinc to dry, primer and topcoat will not adhere correctly.
3.Allow for the combo to get tacky. Don't touch with palm side of your finger to test. Use the backside of you finger so as not to leave mark or oils. Surface should be tacky, but no transfer of color to your finger.
4.Shoot your topcoat in at least two thin layers, preferably three. Topcoats should be allowed to dry between applications.
5.All sanding and cleaning should be done before any paint is applied. There should be no need to sand between applications.

I've painted with a gun before and with spray cans, but it looks like doing a quality job with a spray can is not only possible with outboard motors, if done right, it can last and look great too. I plan to try this in the next few days on an old 71 Johnson 9.5 HP. Good luck and I totally agree about how great this forum is. --Steve

[diaric]

has any one tried a zinc phosphate primer, like old merc's sells?



http://www.oldmercs.com/paint.html

[jmburock]

I used the Zinc chromate primer on my Mariner, followed by the Yamaha dark gray paint. It's hard to find the grey color that Mariner's use so the Yamaha one looked pretty darn good (as long as you paint everything of course).