Question on SE (Self Etching) Primer

I've got a question on Self Etching Primer. I'm refurbishing a 16' Aluminum Mirrorcraft that will be on a trailer or in freshwater only. My original plan was to use Zinc Chromate on the couple dozen minor scratches before putting on regular primer. But when I took the boat off the trailer and flipped it over, there are hundreds of small scratches all over the bottom. Even with all the scratches, there is still good paint over 90%-95% of the hull but by the time I gave each one a spray of Zinc Chromate, the bottom would look camouflaged. Where its not scratched, the original paint is in great shape. No peeling or loose paint anywhere and its actually quite shiny where its not scratched. Now I'm rethinking the Zinc Chromate spray on what I thought would be a couple dozen scratches. Can I sand the entire hull just to only get the shine off, then paint the entire bottom with a roller using self etching primer in a quart can? Is it acceptable to even put SE over good sound sanded paint while hitting the scratches? Then a normal primer over the SE? I'm near a Lowes, Home Depot, and a Tractor Supply. Any recommendations from those stores for a quart of SE if I can paint the entire boat with it? Otherwise, it'll be a lot of small spray spots everywhere.

Re: Question on SE (Self Etching) Primer

dzurinko said:

I've got a question on Self Etching Primer. I'm refurbishing a 16' Aluminum Mirrorcraft that will be on a trailer or in freshwater only. My original plan was to use Zinc Chromate on the couple dozen minor scratches before putting on regular primer. But when I took the boat off the trailer and flipped it over, there are hundreds of small scratches all over the bottom. Even with all the scratches, there is still good paint over 90%-95% of the hull but by the time I gave each one a spray of Zinc Chromate, the bottom would look camouflaged. Where its not scratched, the original paint is in great shape. No peeling or loose paint anywhere and its actually quite shiny where its not scratched. Now I'm rethinking the Zinc Chromate spray on what I thought would be a couple dozen scratches. Can I sand the entire hull just to only get the shine off, then paint the entire bottom with a roller using self etching primer in a quart can? Is it acceptable to even put SE over good sound sanded paint while hitting the scratches? Then a normal primer over the SE? I'm near a Lowes, Home Depot, and a Tractor Supply. Any recommendations from those stores for a quart of SE if I can paint the entire boat with it? Otherwise, it'll be a lot of small spray spots everywhere.

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There are so many way you can do this project that I'm very sure many will chime in with their favorite. I have never used any Self Etching Primer myself, but I have used Zinc Chromate. I sand blaster my outboard completely to the bare metal and then used Zinc Chromate as the first primer coat followed by spraying a sandable high fill two part catalyst primer for the actual primer coat. After sanding that to 600 wet sand, I followed that up by spraying an acrylic urethane base coat (actually three or four coats) and then three or four coats of two part acyclic urethane clear coats. Then I wet sanded that with 2000 grit and followed that with 3M polishing compounds. Now I know that sounds like a lot of manual work, and indeed it is. But you don't have to follow my recipe for a good finish. But do use good primer first and sand any and all imperfections before applying the top coat(s). Because I can tell you, any little flaw that you can see or feel will show up in the final finish as well. Paint doesn't fill in those flaws like so many think... There are certainly others on here that has used rollers to apply their finishes and they looked real good as well. But you have to use quality primers and paints and be willing to sand the finish to get a nice look unless you want to be repainting again in a year or two...

Re: Question on SE (Self Etching) Primer

Hit it with a light coat of this after cleaning as stated before.

Rust-Oleum Automotive 12-oz. Automotive Self Etching Primer spray paint-249322 at The Home Depot

Then you can use Rustos metal primer as a seal coat, then prep for your topcoat.

Re: Question on SE (Self Etching) Primer

Okay thanks Zool. This can also be applied right over my old paint after I sand it right? I just happen to have a can of that Rusto SE spray. So I'll use that and I'll still need their metal primer on top of the SE. Then lightly sand the metal primer and hit it with my finish paint.

Re: Question on SE (Self Etching) Primer

No need to go over the whole thing, just shoot the bare spots and larger scratches. You just need a light coatng, so you wont get a thick paint edge.

Re: Question on SE (Self Etching) Primer

Ok thanks zool. I.ll work on preparing the bottom and picking up my paint this week.