Aluminium door frame refurb.

Elessar

Elessar

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My white aluminium patio doors and particularly the frames are starting to corrode.
How do I refurb them? I don’t want it to look like a bodge.

Any experience of this? A sunk f43 with stainless doors in a boat scrapyard would be nice, but fantasies aside I’m presuming I’m going to have to paint or coat them somehow.
 
doubt you'll manage to get them looking reasonable.
You'll have to go for filling, sanding, priming, etc and spray painting as in a normal car panel (not on the spot!)
Tried to find ways of filling in order to powdercoat, wouldn't work, guys doing powder coating refused to discuss it.
Ended up redoing the whole patio doors and selecting a matching colour to the hull (plain RAL# )
Are they easy to remove?

V.
 
vas said:
doubt you'll manage to get them looking reasonable.
You'll have to go for filling, sanding, priming, etc and spray painting as in a normal car panel (not on the spot!)
Tried to find ways of filling in order to powdercoat, wouldn't work, guys doing powder coating refused to discuss it.
Ended up redoing the whole patio doors and selecting a matching colour to the hull (plain RAL# )
Are they easy to remove?

V.
Click to expand...

I’ve no idea. Not obviously easy. Anyone done this to a curve door sealine?

Won’t paint scratch too easily?
 
Elessar said:
I’ve no idea. Not obviously easy. Anyone done this to a curve door sealine?

Won’t paint scratch too easily?
Click to expand...

oops, didn't realise it's a curved door. No way to redo it in anything other than SS at I guess prohibiting cost!

scratching will be as in a car/truck bodywork. Usually in boats they tend to use heavy duty truck 2pack paints (smaller colour range, but I guess not a problem for you).

I'd start by taking a few pics and showing it to an experienced bodywork shop staff and then try and see how you can remove the glass so that you get access to the bolts that should hold the frame in place. Could be simply held in place with self tapers and serious amounts of sika or equiv.
 
vas said:
oops, didn't realise it's a curved door. No way to redo it in anything other than SS at I guess prohibiting cost!

scratching will be as in a car/truck bodywork. Usually in boats they tend to use heavy duty truck 2pack paints (smaller colour range, but I guess not a problem for you).

I'd start by taking a few pics and showing it to an experienced bodywork shop staff and then try and see how you can remove the glass so that you get access to the bolts that should hold the frame in place. Could be simply held in place with self tapers and serious amounts of sika or equiv.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I guess the benefit of paint is it makes localised repairs easier. And yes colour wise I just need white it doesn’t need to match the gelcoat.
 
well I took off the back seat of my F42/5 it was only fixed with ska ,I needed a lump hammer to chisel it ,if you are painting ,how about one of them guys who does car paint repairs on your drive or at work they are very good ,
 
Been having fun with 70,s Cromodora wheels .
The knack with AL alloys esp if they have Mg in is to chromate them first .
Ideally media blast them , get a cheap “ Parkside “ blaster from Liddel and use that to strip the paint .
Never use a chemical like acid ( most strippers ) as this is absorbed into the alloy and despite alleged ricing will come out later .The chemical leaching will cause “ worms “ .
Once blasted try not to get any grease from fingers on the bare metal , that will be absorbed and later come out under the paint = worms or bubbling .

You can get spray chromate cans , it’s green and wear appropriate PPE , don,t inhale it’s fumes .

Get that on shorty after blasting ,otherwise they will start to absorb moisture from the air , which will surface later under your new paint = peeling / flaking .
Give yourself the best chance and start the job when there’s a high pressure in June ( long days less dew ) and a mini heat wave , with the frames in the sun to heat them up .
Once your chromate has mated then base cost with any rattle can paint of choice followed by two thin coats of lacquer/ clear coat .

Important bit is stripping and getting that chromate on properly.

If you want lasting results.
 
It will almost certainly have been powder coated from new.

I got a load of my trim done when I refurbed the boat last winter. Comes up new.

It would need removing along with the glass... which will be a fair sized job
 
Factory AL alloys are usually done in an oven or some heat ( to degass ) and prepped with an alkaline stabilisation base before powder coating .So factory new is a one off .

You problem here the sea + moisture , infact that’s the chemical reaction your AL is absorbing and reacting simultaneously, hence it “ blows “ swells up .Just covering that up even after a rubdown ain’t gonna work in the long term .
You have to base your technique round degassing by heat which is limeted if attached to a boat AND chromating .
The chromating stabilises the AL and provides a great base to paint what ever on .

Of course mask off stuff you don’t want to paint and as said pick a dry hot day .

It’s all about managing the AL alloy chemistry that allready started hence the blowing / bubbling / swelling etc .
Just rubbing it down getting greasy finger marks all over it and slapping paint on , even aledged metal primers and maybe a quality top coat like awlgrip = it will look great for a short while because under its still reacting .
 
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Portofino said:
Factory AL alloys are usually done in an oven or some heat ( to degass ) and prepped with an alkaline stabilisation base before powder coating .So factory new is a one off .

You problem here the sea + moisture , infact that’s the chemical reaction your AL is absorbing and reacting simultaneously, hence it “ blows “ swells up .Just covering that up even after a rubdown ain’t gonna work in the long term .
You have to base your technique round degassing by heat which is limeted if attached to a boat AND chromating .
The chromating stabilises the AL and provides a great base to paint what ever on .

Of course mask off stuff you don’t want to paint and as said pick a dry hot day .

It’s all about managing the AL alloy chemistry that allready started hence the blowing / bubbling / swelling etc .
Click to expand...

Awlgrip is used to paint and repaint Aluminium on boats all the time. Will probably be better than new!
 
Infact any AL alloy thing on a boat is it in my mind a numty thing that’s do .
Passerelle.s ,window frames , hatch frames , radar supports , radar arches , patio doors + much more .
How may blown paintwork examples do you see in the yard or dock walking?

Passerelle cassette door flaps being numero uno , forum challenge show me a pic of one that’s not blown :encouragement:

They should be done in SS or composite materials.

Alloy quality varies , but once it “ blows “ getting it back to factory spec in a marine environment is gonna be a challenging.
 
petem said:
Awlgrip is used to paint and repaint Aluminium on boats all the time. Will probably be better than new!
Click to expand...

You can slap anything on Pete , knack is as I’ve said with AL alloys that’s have started to react - keeping it on .
Any fool can show a pic of “ look at this AL alloy [ insert boat part ] painted this morning “

You can put it as thick as you like too as the problem as said is chemical reaction allready initiated buy salts from the marine environment.
Thick layers just peel off thicker unless you do something to mitigate the chemistry and understand the absorption thing .
 
Portofino said:
Infact any AL alloy thing on a boat is it in my mind a numty thing that’s do .
Passerelle.s ,window frames , hatch frames , radar supports , radar arches , patio doors + much more .
How may blown paintwork examples do you see in the yard or dock walking?

Passerelle cassette door flaps being numero uno , forum challenge show me a pic of one that’s not blown :encouragement:

They should be done in SS or composite materials.

Alloy quality varies , but once it “ blows “ getting it back to factory spec in a marine environment is gonna be a challenging.
Click to expand...

Thank you for summarising the problem for me.
The point is it isn't stainless steel, of course that's what I'd like - that's sort of stating the obvious.
I am where I am and I was hoping to hear from someone who's had the same problem and sorted it.
 
I repainted the doors on my ACM Elite and they are still looking like new 2 years later. I'd be happy if I got another couple of years out of them - no different to alloy wheels on a car in that respect.

I used AC gel to fill - an etch primer - filler primer then RAL 9010 topcoat - all rattle can incidentally which is fine if you're prepared to wet sand back to a flat finish.
 
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