Undercoating pontoons??

[Evilrude]

I hate to ask but has anyone ever or ever heard of undercoating there pontoons???

 

[MinUph]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

Logs can be painted with epoxy and bottom paint.

 

[suneshop]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

That is common in my area. Treat it like a fiberglass boat.

 

[BigDfromTN]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

Are you asking about undercoating the tubes of a pontoon or the underside of the deck etc. ?

 

[ahicks]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

What is it you're trying to avoid with the undercoating? Marine growth, or something else?

 

[Evilrude]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

Well id like to paint them or undercoat them with a smooth rubberized undercoating . Paint would work well mainly cause they are the ugliest grey you've ever seen . Undercoating for the durability and possibly a little insurance against any future leaks cause the boat is a 87. I'm painting them either way just wondered if anybody had any dos or donts on the subject. Or if the undercoating idea is just silly or a good idea .

 

[1983 ercoa 21']

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

I have the same problem with my goons . Everything I have read about putting anything on them as in paint it makes them very hard to repair if you need to. Plus the type of paint required to paint aluminum is expensive.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

The best thing to do is to polish them back out to a mirror shine and then put shark hide on, that keeps the shine for years.

 

[dls322]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

I would avoid painting or coating unless you are running in salt water. Once they are coated, if you have any leaks they will need to be sandblasted to remove the coating to weld. If you epoxy them then you are SOL. If it's just for looks you are concerned about, they sell products that you can use to clean and buff and protect them....but it's allot of elbow grease.
For me it's a pontoon that sits in the water...supposed to be a little dirty.

 

[MinUph]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

Don't understand the "if you epoxy them you are SOL". It can be removed like anything else if need be.

 

[dls322]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

Don't understand the "if you epoxy them you are SOL". It can be removed like anything else if need be.

Hmmmm, not sure what to say about that.....have you ever removed epoxy from a pontoon? Please let us in on the secret

 

[MinUph]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

I have not removed epoxy myself but the guy that paints my log does. From what I can tell he used some sort of paint removing grinding wheel. I have used such a wheel to remove paint on other items and it doesn't remove any metal. What it is a a soft black woven wheel that gets chucked in an air grinder or drill.

 

[Evilrude]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

I'm gonna paint them. They were painted an ugly grey and it's flaking all over so elbow grease is in my future any how.

 

[dls322]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

I have not removed epoxy myself but the guy that paints my log does. From what I can tell he used some sort of paint removing grinding wheel. I have used such a wheel to remove paint on other items and it doesn't remove any metal. What it is a a soft black woven wheel that gets chucked in an air grinder or drill.

Epoxy is different than bottom paint....it's a 2 part setup, you add a hardener chemical to it to activate it. When it dries it basically coating your pontoon in an ultra hard plastic. I even called the manufacturer of the epoxy I used on my old toons and they confirmed that it's not coming off. The stuff i used was called Coat-it, it's designed to use on boat bottoms that frequently hit rocks.....tough stuff...but i would not recommend it for toons.

 

[dls322]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

The new paint might not properly set unless the old stuff is removed. They have places that will soda blast the toons to get all the old paint off.

 

[MinUph]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

Epoxy is different than bottom paint....it's a 2 part setup, you add a hardener chemical to it to activate it. When it dries it basically coating your pontoon in an ultra hard plastic. I even called the manufacturer of the epoxy I used on my old toons and they confirmed that it's not coming off. The stuff i used was called Coat-it, it's designed to use on boat bottoms that frequently hit rocks.....tough stuff...but i would not recommend it for toons.

Here in Florida it is common practice to use epoxy as a primer and bottom paint over. I believe the epoxy is used as a barrier for the paint. It is recommended for pontoons by the dealers here on a regular basis if the boat is left in the salt water.

 

[dls322]

Re: Undercoating pontoons??

Here in Florida it is common practice to use epoxy as a primer and bottom paint over. I believe the epoxy is used as a barrier for the paint. It is recommended for pontoons by the dealers here on a regular basis if the boat is left in the salt water.

Hmmm, well i guess whatever works. I just know from my experience that i will never do that again