Painting aluminum

[rick3b]

I am in the process of painting both the top and bottom of my aluminum boat. I followed the steps given on this web site and everything seems to be coming out fine. The sail blue that I painted the top is too light and I want to change it to a navy blue. Do I have to sand the brand new paint or can I just paint the navy blue on top of the sail blue? Thanks in advance.

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: Painting aluminum

I would deff. sand it before applying another coat.<br />keep in mind a dark color will get aweful hot<br />in the TX sun...

 

[Bondo]

Re: Painting aluminum

Even "New" paint needs to be Scuffed before subsequent coats...........<br /><br />You Don't need to remove any paint, But Fine Sanding Should be done to insure adhesion of later coats........<br /><br />In other words,..... You Need to knock the Shine off the paint on there Now..................

 

[DJ]

Re: Painting aluminum

Here is what I did.<br /><br />1. Sand entire boat with 120 grit wet sandpaper.<br /><br />2. Wash entire boat with 50/50 solution of vinegar and water.<br /><br />3. Apply one coat (thin) of zinc chromate paint.<br /><br />4. Wet sand with 120 (very lightly).<br /><br />5. Apply one coat "Metalprep" primer. <br /><br />6. Wet sand with 120 grit.<br /><br />7. Apply finish coat of one part epoxy paint. I used Interlux "Brightside" one part epoxy-white.<br /><br />8. Wet sand with 220 grit wet sand paper.<br /><br />9. Apply final coat of "Brightside" one part epoxy paint.<br /><br />Hints: <br /><br />1. Use only the thinners approved by the paint manufacturer.<br /><br />2. Use very high quality brushes.<br /><br />3. You will need one quart zinc chromate, one quart metalprep, two quarts final coat-Brightside.<br /><br />I brushed mine. The Interlux paint flows out beautifully. You have to get very close to tell it's brushed.<br /><br />All of the paints and thinners mentioned above are available at: www.westmarine.com<br /><br />You could also use the products available from Pettit Paints. I used Interlux this time, because it was on sale.<br /><br />By the way, here's a link to the last one I did.<br /><br /> http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=000270#000000