Painting over GLUVIT?

[MLV159]

Hello,

Question about GLUVIT. I plan on coating the bottom of my 14'
aluminum Jon boat and painting it as well. Should I apply a zinc chromate
primer over GLUVIT then paint with a marine type paint? Will it hurt it if I
do?

Now I only plan I applying GLUVIT to the bottom of the boat, not the sides.
I'm also painting the sides with a marine type paint though. Should I spray
zinc chromate primer over the whole bottom (with GLUVIT already applied)
including the sides? Or just prime the sides? Thank you

 

[ThinBlue]

Are you planning on coating the outside bottom of the boat? If so, I would consider using Gluvit on the inside of your boat floor. The entire inside bottom doesn't need to be coated, just the rivets and seams. Although I haven't used it and don't plan on it, I have seen others use the Steel Flex on the outside bottom of their boat. Here is a link to my boat, in the first post there is a photo of what the gluvit looks like on the rivets. It does a very good job. https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?t=40326

To answer your question about painting, Gluvit can be overcoated with any marine paint or other coating compatible with epoxies. I don't know that you would want to use a zinc chromate primer over Gluvit, but I could be wrong. I would stick with a regular primer over the gluvit as I don't think you would need the etching part over the gluvit. You would still want some sort of self etching primer over bare aluminum.

 

[MLV159]

yes just the bottom. The bottom is in pretty rough shape so I would like to coat it. I will look into steel flex

 

[DaleH]

Agree ... prep/solvent wash ... then zinc chromate primer ... then GluVit or SteelFlex ... and possibly then a paint or varnish/polyurethane to protect the epoxy layer.

Typically most epoxies need to be covered to protect against damaging UV rays and I only know of 2 epoxies specially formulated (West Systems and Raka) that allegedly do not require a UV-inhibitor coating. But I have not investigated SteelFlex to this end, but Gluvit should not be directly exposed to the sun, as it will yellow, harden, age and crack off.

When I had a toona boat with 43 pieces of teak and mahogany brightwork, it was cleaned, lightly stained w/ Cetol Marine Light, then fully encapsulated in 3 coats of epoxy, with 6 or more coats of polyurethane (UV proof) on top. Every 2-3 seasons, depending on the wear and when I'd see signs of the protective top-coat weakening (crazing, like fine spider web lines) ... I'd give a quick rub down with a green Scotchbrite pad, then apply a few fast coats of the poly again.