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[Spawn Sack]

So, I come home today and my girlfriend has our recently aquired aluminum boat in the driveway (a neighbiur helped her remove it from the trailer) and she has all the paint stripped off (!) At first I was unimpressed, but the paint look pretty ugly, and she's gone this far, so I figure we might as well give it a quick restoration. Just looking for some tips on the following areas.

1- Filling holes: There is one small gouge/hole on the side of one of the fin/rail things (chine?) on the side. Obviously water will enter here, but I don't think it would be able to get inside the boat. There is no hole on the inside opposite the fin hole. Anway, just for piece of mind I'm going to patch it. Researching online it looks like a lot of people use 3M 5200 I believe it was called. Other use JB weld or Cabela's aluminum boat repair sticks. Any opinions here?

2- Painting the outside. I imagine we'll just paint from half way up the side (above the side fin/rail) to the the gunwale, leaving the fin/rail and the hull just unpainted aluminum, as well as the gunwale unpainted. Basicially the same as the original paint job, just repainting the red strip on the side.

I think it would be rather dumb to paint the hull as it will inevitabley get scuffed up. However I wonder is there a clear sealant that may plug up any rivets that may be loose/leaking?

3- Replacing wood. The plywood used for the transom and where the rod holders screw in is pretty old and semi-deteriorating. Is there an easy/affordable upgrade from plywood here? My plan is to buy the wood, trace out the existing piece of wood on the new wood, cut to size, treat/paint it with whatever, then scew/bolt it back just how the old wood was. If the only practical choice is new plywood then that's ok.

Somewhere down the road I might clean and paint the inside of the boat, but it is too much for right now. A winter project perhaps. We are going camping/fishing July 2nd for 4 days so this needs to be done by then.

Any other tips on my exterior restoration job would be much appreciated!

[alwaysfishn]

For leaks I would try this product:http://www.flexsealspraycan.com/  I've used it on my gutters and it works fantastic. Seems like it might be quite durable as well because it sticks so well.

[HOOK]

I would replace the plywood with new plywood. Buy a rubber spray on sealant (Home Depot). coat the entire new piece of plywood before putting it onto the boat, it can even be painted if need be. I just re-did the entire transom end of my wooden punt and sprayed with the rubber stuff. It has sat in the elements for the last 6weeks and not a single drop of water got through. I did 2 coats of the spray on stuff (not 2 cans but two layers)


I only re-did the transom because I dropped the boat moving it and busted part of the plywood in an area I couldn't easily repair without it looking wicked ugly. The new transom is crazy strong now too 

[Spawn Sack]

Alwaysfishin, thanks but that is a link to email Stephen Harper...nothing to do with sealant.

Hook, good call on the plywood, I'm guessing anything else would not be that cost effective. Next time I'm at Home Depot I'll look for that rubber spray on sealant. Remember a brand perhaps? 3M?

Right now I'm researching different products/methods for repainting the aluminum side. Lots of conflicting answers online about required primer and paint type. I think I'll just hit up NAPA or Cascade Marine today and ask the pros who know.

[alwaysfishn]

Alwaysfishin, thanks but that is a link to email Stephen Harper...nothing to do with sealant.

Hook, good call on the plywood, I'm guessing anything else would not be that cost effective. Next time I'm at Home Depot I'll look for that rubber spray on sealant. Remember a brand perhaps? 3M?

Right now I'm researching different products/methods for repainting the aluminum side. Lots of conflicting answers online about required primer and paint type. I think I'll just hit up NAPA or Cascade Marine today and ask the pros who know.

I fixed the link Spawn Sack.  Homedepot probably has it. I think I found mine at Canadian Tire. For painting you'll need to get down to bare aluminum, cover it with a metal primer, then some marine enamel. If you don't get the aluminum really clean, the oxidization will cause any paint to bubble and peel pretty quickly.

[HOOK]

just ask the person at Home Depot for spray on rubber sealant for wood. The stuff I got is also paintable which is what I needed because I plan to paint over it. I think it was a black/red can but not 100% price is around 12/13 bucks

[Spawn Sack]

Alwaysfishin, thanks but I'm not looking to spray that much surface. The small hole is below where I will be painting. so I want to just fill the hole and not spray the surrounding area. I'll likely just use JB Weld or a similar product.

I got my transom wood today. Not much luck at Home Depot, but Windsor Plywood was fantastic and let me just buy a 1/4 sheet of wood and he even did all the cuts for me! He recommended this brush on sealant so that's what I using. It's like a varathane but made for such applications.

Tomorrow I am going to primer and paint the sides of the boat. I already have the special zinc cromate primer (came in aerosol only) that I am going to do several coats of, however we do not yet have our PAINT!

Seems like all the good stuff Homedepot has online is not available in Canada! Does anyone know what type of paint is best to use on an aluminum boat? Brush on or spray on? I reckon if I'm going through all the trouble to tape and plastic for the primer it would be smart to also use an aerosol paint to avoid brushlines. I've read some conflicting information online, and got conflicting information from a few local stores I'm planning to go aerosol but am not sure what kind of paint to buy.

[HOOK]

marine grade paint. call a marine store and see if they have any, if not they should know a few places to call. I know Steveston Marine carries some and no its not cheap !

[Spawn Sack]

Today was interesting. I bought my zinc chromate primer (best for aluminum, they say) from NAPA. Staff there and at Cascade Marine said LORDCO is the best place to get a good paint; basicially the same paint you'd use to paint a car.

I went to LORDCO on Vedder in Sardis and had the good fortune of getting a staff member who REALLY knew his paint! Rob I think was his name. He mixed me up two (spray) cans of Plastikote "Custom Kote" paint in the red/burgundy of my choice.

My problems started when I went to use the primer (Dupli-Color) from NAPA. The nozzel was GARBAGE! It sprayed out a really pathetic blast, and despite my best efferts I was getting a lot of runs. It was dripping so much I best half the paint was on my plastic.

I went back to LORDCO and asked Rob about the primer. He said the nozzle looked like junk and he wasn't surprised it sprayed so poorly. He sold me a can of Plastikote primer and said to sand the runs once the other primer was dry, then to hit it with the new primer. He also said that the current primer (yellow in color) would not go that great with red over it, and would likely come out looking orange. Instead he said to use black primer, so that's what I bought.

I went home, sanded the runs, and reprimed the boat with the black primer. What a difference! The different brand sprayed out MUCH nicer, didn't get a single run!!!

I did several coats of red and, after using up both cans, I can tell it still needs one more can as you can see black just a hair in a few spots - that black primer is tough to cover up!

I'm going to get one more can tomorrow morning and give it a couple more good coats until the paint runs out. Should look nice when it's done.