Aluminium boats: pros & cons?

[Ships_Cat]

There is no problem getting paints to stick to aluminium hulls made of marine alloys. They are, in fact, easier to paint than steel because no blasting is required and the interior can be left unpainted (we do have the bilge space forward of the collision bulkhead and below the drain valve level painted due to the stagnant water that collects there, but that is all).

A good paint system such as epoxy prime/build coats and linear ployurenthane topcoat will give many years of service (typically 10 years for darker colours and 15 for white). The aluminium boats I am involved with all use such paint systems from Jotun, International, etc with no problems.

Just look at the paint on superyachts, most of which are aluminium.

John

 

[ovniowners]

Yes, I believe Alubat use a similar paint system such as Ships Cat describes, applying a total of 5 coats of paint. Our boat was built in 1999, and has had 6 years of hard use and little external maintenance, so there are several visible paint chips. Personally this doesn't worry me greatly, as most well used 6 year-old boats will have signs of wear. Another Ovni owner with a boat built in the same year as us has really looked after it, it has had definately 1 if not 2 resprays in it's life, and it still looks superb.

Obviously it is a matter of choice. You don't have to paint over any chips, in my experience this causes no further problems with the paint, and you can carry on sailing. However, if you want your boat to look the best, then you can regularly touch up the paint yourself, or get a respray if it really needs it.

I'm afraid that I am away from the boat for at least 2 weeks now, so will not be able to take any photos of the chips. I can do it when I return however, if people are still interested.

Thanks,

Paul