Paint advice. Help me put lipstick on this pig!

[Monster1]

I bought a used 1448 with 25hp johnson a few months ago. The motor ended up being tired, abused and just not what I want as a turn key rig. I bought a 20hp Suzuki that will arrive next week. My wife says the pig needs some lipstick to go with the pretty new motor. The 1995 lowe big jon hull is actually in really good condition and not all banged up. The old paint is really faded to almost pastel like green, but not peeling anywhere.

I'm not wanting to invest a huge amount of time or prep into the paint. I'm not looking for a mirror finish. I'd actually prefer a rough almost bedliner like finish to protect the hull and give it a utility type look. Or at least just a really durable classic flat olive green finish. I've been looking at total boat because it's good under the water line and appears to involve the least amount of prep to get a good finish. But I'm not in the know about painting boats so any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Ray Clark]

I'm no expert, but I painted my boat, and am satisfied with how it turned out. Before and after pics:

The day I brought it home in 2020:



After pulling it out of the shop a few weeks ago.



Paint: The red is Krylon Farm and Implement Paint, Massey Ferguson Red color. The black is Rustoleum Farm and Implement Paint, black (duh!). Both paints are in the $15-20/quart range. Primer is Rustoleum Heavy Rust Primer (red). I used 1 quart of each of the colors, and had plenty left over and one quart of primer. I used a paint roller with brush tipping follow and up. I also had a spray can of the same paints and primer for touching up spots as needed. Farm and Implement paint is fairly decent at self leveling, but not absolutely perfect. I don't know if it comes in a matte olive finish.

This boat does not spend overnight in the water; and it's stored inside.

I painted the red portion in Summer 2020, and it still looks great after three full seasons of regular use. The black was just done after this season, so we'll see how that goes this next year.

I found the Farm and Implement paint to be very hard once cured. It's easy to apply, but needs a good week for curing. Even the spray versions of Farm and Implement paint need a few days to cure out, in my experience. But once cured, it's bulletproof. I also recommend following the paint mfr recommendations regarding ambient temperatures when painting.

Prep was simple, but a little time consuming. The main abrasives were polycarbide abrasive wheels, available from Harbor Freight for $6-7 each. Those were loaded onto my angle grinder. I used two wheels through both painting sessions. I used the wheels to scuff the surface and take off old paint and grime. The polycarbide wheels are fryable; they wear away with use. I found that they did not dig into the aluminum.

I had wire wheels chucked up in my cordless drill for hard-to-reach spots; I'd be careful about some of the heavier-wire wheels. I sure would NOT use those ultra heavy wire wheels mounted onto an angle grinder. I think you'd tear into the aluminum very quickly.

Total Boat makes a great product; if my boat stayed in the water for days/weeks at a time, I might have gone that route.

Good luck and post pics!

 

[Monster1]

I'm no expert, but I painted my boat, and am satisfied with how it turned out. Before and after pics:

The day I brought it home in 2020:

View attachment 118772

After pulling it out of the shop a few weeks ago.

View attachment 118773

Paint: The red is Krylon Farm and Implement Paint, Massey Ferguson Red color. The black is Rustoleum Farm and Implement Paint, black (duh!). Both paints are in the $15-20/quart range. Primer is Rustoleum Heavy Rust Primer (red). I used 1 quart of each of the colors, and had plenty left over and one quart of primer. I used a paint roller with brush tipping follow and up. I also had a spray can of the same paints and primer for touching up spots as needed. Farm and Implement paint is fairly decent at self leveling, but not absolutely perfect. I don't know if it comes in a matte olive finish.

This boat does not spend overnight in the water; and it's stored inside.

I painted the red portion in Summer 2020, and it still looks great after three full seasons of regular use. The black was just done after this season, so we'll see how that goes this next year.

I found the Farm and Implement paint to be very hard once cured. It's easy to apply, but needs a good week for curing. Even the spray versions of Farm and Implement paint need a few days to cure out, in my experience. But once cured, it's bulletproof. I also recommend following the paint mfr recommendations regarding ambient temperatures when painting.

Prep was simple, but a little time consuming. The main abrasives were polycarbide abrasive wheels, available from Harbor Freight for $6-7 each. Those were loaded onto my angle grinder. I used two wheels through both painting sessions. I used the wheels to scuff the surface and take off old paint and grime. The polycarbide wheels are fryable; they wear away with use. I found that they did not dig into the aluminum.

I had wire wheels chucked up in my cordless drill for hard-to-reach spots; I'd be careful about some of the heavier-wire wheels. I sure would NOT use those ultra heavy wire wheels mounted onto an angle grinder. I think you'd tear into the aluminum very quickly.

Total Boat makes a great product; if my boat stayed in the water for days/weeks at a time, I might have gone that route.

Good luck and post pics!

That looks really great! If I had more free time and a better place to work, I think I'd go that route. Someone recommended I try GOOP epoxy sealer on the bottom. I think I may just flip the boat and roll some on the bottom for now to get me by. Once the bottom is coated. The trailer becomes my work bench so to speak and can focus on the rest later.

 

[Ray Clark]

That looks really great! If I had more free time and a better place to work, I think I'd go that route. Someone recommended I try GOOP epoxy sealer on the bottom. I think I may just flip the boat and roll some on the bottom for now to get me by. Once the bottom is coated. The trailer becomes my work bench so to speak and can focus on the rest later.

The "long view" is a good path to what you seek. It was 3 1/2 years between those pictures. One step at a time. Do what you can when you can. For me, the important part was keeping the boat fishable as I made improvements as I could afford them, either in cost or time. One of my first steps was a new 20 HP Merc.

Regarding your possible bedliner coating on the hull. The liner coatings I've seen are rough-textured. I've not seen them on hull bottoms, but they will provide more drag going through the water than bare or painted aluminum. That could negatively impact the performance of your new outboard. It might not seem like a big deal, but it could be. Like I said, I've not seen it done. Something to think about, and perhaps somebody else can come along and confirm, or tell me I'm all wet.

 

[airshot]

If the paint is not peeling or chipping off, then just clean it good and scuff it up a little and paint coat or whatever. No big prep is needed. I rolled my jon boat and it came out great, I used Rustoleum in quarts and matching rattle cans for a couple hard to reach spots

 

[airshot]

The "long view" is a good path to what you seek. It was 3 1/2 years between those pictures. One step at a time. Do what you can when you can. For me, the important part was keeping the boat fishable as I made improvements as I could afford them, either in cost or time. One of my first steps was a new 20 HP Merc.

Regarding your possible bedliner coating on the hull. The liner coatings I've seen are rough-textured. I've not seen them on hull bottoms, but they will provide more drag going through the water than bare or painted aluminum. That could negatively impact the performance of your new outboard. It might not seem like a big deal, but it could be. Like I said, I've not seen it done. Something to think about, and perhaps somebody else can come along and confirm, or tell me I'm all wet.

In the sailing community, the new thing is rough surfaces rather than smooth. Bumpy surfaces grab air bubbles and make the hull faster than smooth finnishes. You will see many of the new performance hulls have rough surfaces on them. No experience with the stuff but seems to ve popular...

 

[Ray Clark]

In the sailing community, the new thing is rough surfaces rather than smooth. Bumpy surfaces grab air bubbles and make the hull faster than smooth finnishes. You will see many of the new performance hulls have rough surfaces on them. No experience with the stuff but seems to ve popular...

Well, there you go! That's why I qualified my input. It's counterintuitive, though.

 

[LDUBS]

In the sailing community, the new thing is rough surfaces rather than smooth. Bumpy surfaces grab air bubbles and make the hull faster than smooth finnishes. You will see many of the new performance hulls have rough surfaces on them. No experience with the stuff but seems to ve popular...

Interesting. Maybe kind of like why they have dimples on golf balls.

 

[Makaw]

If the paint is not peeling or chipping off, then just clean it good and scuff it up a little and paint coat or whatever. No big prep is needed. I rolled my jon boat and it came out great, I used Rustoleum in quarts and matching rattle cans for a couple hard to reach spots

This is basically what I did and I was very happy with the Rustoleum. I had more bare aluminum after sanding than I originally expected, so I opted to use a primer that works with aluminum prior to painting. Thinned the paint a touch and used a foam roller to good effect.

 

[Azdesert]

The key to any paint job is prep. Doesn't matter too much what you want to put on it, you have to prep it or your going to be redoing it again. The easier fast part of the job is laying the paint down. I've been painting all kinds of stuff for a good many years and anything requires that prep time.
Now that I beat that prep horse, I recently painted my trailer with farm and implement, over a POR15 base. POR15 is great stuff, but it's not cheap. I put Gator Glide on the bottom of my boat, seems like a very nice product but again not cheap. My goal is not to have to redo any of it in my lifetime and I plan on passing on my little boat on to family. So our goals are a bit different, hopefully you can glean something from this. Good Luck and post some pics on how your project ends up.

 

[Fishingman48]

That looks really great! If I had more free time and a better place to work, I think I'd go that route. Someone recommended I try GOOP epoxy sealer on the bottom. I think I may just flip the boat and roll some on the bottom for now to get me by. Once the bottom is coated. The trailer becomes my work bench so to speak and can focus on the rest later.

dont know if spellin right how about rhinoliner ?? supposed to be durable & tuff, just roller on i think you can air spray to!????Rust-o-leum?????

 

[thill]

View attachment 118773

Paint: The red is Krylon Farm and Implement Paint, Massey Ferguson Red color. The black is Rustoleum Farm and Implement Paint, black (duh!). Both paints are in the $15-20/quart range. Primer is Rustoleum Heavy Rust Primer (red). I used 1 quart of each of the colors, and had plenty left over and one quart of primer. I used a paint roller with brush tipping follow and up. I also had a spray can of the same paints and primer for touching up spots as needed. Farm and Implement paint is fairly decent at self leveling, but not absolutely perfect. I don't know if it comes in a matte olive finish.

Was there any reason you used rust-preventative primer on aluminum? I thought those fought each other, causing issues. Probably not a problem, since your boat doesn't stay in the water.

For what it's worth, Rustoleum makes a good Aluminum primer:


This is made to cover bare aluminum and also works fine over other paint as a primer. Good adhesion and very good corrosion protection.

Your boat looks great, by the way.

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Was there any reason you used rust-preventative primer on aluminum? I thought those fought each other, causing issues. Probably not a problem, since your boat doesn't stay in the water.

For what it's worth, Rustoleum makes a good Aluminum primer:
View attachment 119634

This is made to cover bare aluminum and also works fine over other paint as a primer. Good adhesion and very good corrosion protection.

Your boat looks great, by the way.

I used this primer when I painted the wheels on my van a couple years ago. It's holding up great.