Painting aluminium?

[wotayottie]

Thanks all. Your collective suggestions have helped formulate a plan. No idea how easy/or not getting the old coating off may prove though where the coating has cracked I can pick it off with my finger nail as it seems to have very little grip on the base metal. Have not tackled it yet as still using the boat until last weekend and trying to keep it intact. Most of the damage has not ruptured so not exposed the under surface. Will now plan etch primer and suitable topcoat though when the weather gods will allow this is anyones guess. Thanks again folks, Terry.

Aluminium is a bitch to get paint to stick to - a little pinhole or chip and the corrosion travels under the paint, swelling and lifting it off. You get the same issue with motorbikes as with boats so you arent alone. I would not admit it to Jeannneau but personally I would have thought 5 years use without any paint lifting at all would be pretty good.

Touching up will not last but it may well be easier to do that regularly than remove and strip the pedestals. If you feel up to removing and dismantling then the easiest way of repaining would be to take them to a plastic coater ( most big towns have one) and he will blast them clean and put a plastic coat on them. To give you a guide to cost, a pal is just having this done for the frame and tinware of an old Jap bike ( got to be more work that 2 pedestals) and the cost is just £90.

Any colour you want. You could even have them done in some Harley type metalflake. Pink say.

 

[charles_reed]

I don't understand that.
If you put gel coat on it still needs adhesion if it is to remain in place. Putting gel coat onto aluminium is no different from using any other paint product. It's effectively the same as using a polyester, or epoxy, paint.

Exactly - that's why it's come off - round the fixing holes to start and, in time, off the whole lot.
The gel-coat is the whitening on the sepulchre. In time, in a marine environment, anything comes off aluminium - hard anodised lasts the best.

 

[nimrod1230]

By way of an update I have just received an e mail from Jeanneau stating that the pedestals are painted by a third party supplier but are unable to advise a standard paint colour reference. Powder coating did occur to me but untill I can see the extent of a possible strip down will continue to ponder painting. Will let you know the outcome in due course.

 

[Noahsdad]

I've just painted my aluminium mast and boom and i am very happy with the result using 2-pack polyurethane paints and a roller, looks professional.
As other forumites have mentioned getting the aluminium clean enough to apply epoxy primer is key.
If possible to remove the pedestals i'd be tempted to have them blasted back to bare metel, 2 coats of epoxy primer, 2 coats of undercoat and 2 coats of gloss.
I thought about anodising though no tanks bigger than 12 metres on the south coast apparently.
I got great advice from the technical guy at International paints.
Good luck!

 

[vyv_cox]

Just a slight aside. Some years ago we hauled out at Boatyard Palma in Mallorca, a yard renowned for repairs and servicing of superyachts. While we were there we watched several masts and other superstructures, all in aluminium, being painted. Fabulously done, to an incredibly high standard. Virtually every superyacht I have seen in the Med has painted aluminium masts, and all done in Awlgrip I imagine. It is perfectly possible to get it right.

 

[TimBennet]

There's lots of people I know in the aluminium boatbuilding world, who would love to hear from anyone who thinks painting aluminium is easy! In my experience over the years, it's a nightmare. Even with unlimited facilities, money and working under the direct supervision of Awlgrip.

Beautiful finishes were always achieved when done, but durability remained a problem, even on boats with professional crews to maintain them.

We painted spars when either demanded by owners for aesthetic reasons or if a lot of fabrication was required on the blank extrusion.

For shorthanded or long distance cruisers we eventually became firm advocates of polished plain aluminium topsides. Leaving the coach houses and cockpits also uncoated was however never chosen as they got very hot (compared to painting them white) in the sun and owners found them too 'work boat like'. However, interestingly one of the yard's more famous 'alumni' has recently written on his blog that even keeping the paint on his cabin house structure has proved to be irksome and they wish they had gone unpainted here as well.

 

[Jamesuk]

Hi,

I worked on a boat 250ft which its hull was steel but its super structure was aluminium.. The boat was 18 years old and we used Awl gripaimt systems.

That was 5 years ago so my memory is limited here is a manual that i just found online talking about aluminium painting.

http://www.awlgrip.com/ProdLit/ApplicationGuideR.pdf