lower unit paint

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americaneagler77

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 15, 2011
Messages
231
so my skeg was peeling and its ugly so i sanded, primed and sprayed the lower unit, looked brand new til a wide open run on the river against the current. now its right back to where it was. what do you guys use to paint your lower units and have it stick, id rather not spend 20 dollars on a can of mercury paint.....
 
S

shrew

Lieutenant
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
1,309
Re: lower unit paint

What did you use to paint the drive? Mercury Prime and Paint works well. I bottom paint my drive, but that might not be necessary for you.
 
A

americaneagler77

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 15, 2011
Messages
231
Re: lower unit paint

some krylon in a can from walmart made for metal.....i figured it may not last long. but i thought it would last the season, much less, it lasted a day. LOL as for the 2nd post, holy crap thats a lot of bs to paint something thats not seen in use haha. no wonder why everyone has ugly lower units. maybe ill let the rest of the paint blow off this weekend when i run it and ill recoat after, theres still some oem paint on it, i just scuffed it primed and painted.
 
C

Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
27,148
Re: lower unit paint

Use a zinc chromate primer (green in color) for aluminum. Topcoat with any gloss black, and it will look good for a while, and it won't fall off. Since your paint fell off in a day, and that is unusual, I would sand the metal and then wipe it down with Acetone, before priming.
 
H

Home Cookin'

Fleet Admiral
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
9,715
Re: lower unit paint

even when you follow the directions, use the special primers, etc. it's very hard to get paint to stick to the underwater metal parts.
 
642mx

642mx

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
1,588
Re: lower unit paint

Mercruiser Phantom Black... nothing else sticks as good. :)
 
nlain

nlain

Commander
Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
2,445
Re: lower unit paint

It really is not that much work to sand, wipe down, prime and paint.

100_1186.jpg

You have something that looks like this.
 
D

dpoff

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Nov 27, 2004
Messages
169
Re: lower unit paint

Go with Chris1956, use the zinc chromate primer after a good sanding to bare metal. It`ll pay off!
 
Trooper583

Trooper583

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Sep 19, 2010
Messages
134
Re: lower unit paint

I recently used a farm implement paint on my alpha 1. The pint of paint was $8.00. I also used the added hardner for it as well. I put the tongue on the trailer all the way down and the drive could come nearly all the way down. I sanded it starting with 220 and then worked up to 600. I wiped the whole thing down with acetone and then brushed the paint on. The hardner makes the paint auto level. It wound up looking like a brand new spray finish. The only time you really need to primer on a paint job is when there is bare metal. As far as durability goes...I've been out probably 12-14 times so far this year and its holding up great. P.S. I do a lot of driving so it's a pretty good solution.
 
Bondo

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,525
Re: lower unit paint

Ayuh,... I brush my drive off, 'n shoot it with rattlecan Rustoleum Black at least once a year...
 
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