Painting the outdrive advice

jon and michie

jon and michie

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Hi - I intend to lightly sand down by hand to create a key (not going mad on this) then paint and then antifoul.
The Out drive is a Volvo Dpg if this helps
Can anyone recommend any primers and top coat and antifoul brands.

many thanks in advance

Jon
 
What worked well for me was this.
After rub down with sand paper clean with acetone.
Then spray bare metal with Acid 8 etch primer
Followed by a couple of coats of a two part epoxy, I used Jotun HB Penguard
Lastly your anti foul of choice (suitable for aluminium). I used Seajet 033.
This system worked well for me and was still intact after a couple of seasons when I sold the boat with only a little touching up in between seasons.
 
I highly recommend premier marine antifoul, it's brush on rather than spray on and scrubable which means you can sand it smooth easily but lay it on thick too. works well and much cheaper than the spray cans.. a small 500ml tin is more than enough for one drive

Although looking at their FAQ section the link to their product goes nowhere and their standard product for antifouling the hull says it also is ok for sterndrives.. sounds like they've combined the two

https://www.premiermarinepaints.co.uk/faqs/
 
Many thanks for the replies - Today I went to my local chandlers for advice and I have purchased Primocon for the primer and trilux 33 and thinner no3 for cleaning the leg before the first coat and brushes etc.

The Chap at the chandlers has said put plenty of primer coats on and then a few coats of the trilux would be the best option in his opinion which makes sense to me

So my next questions are - Do I need to lightly rub down to create a key in between coats ?
I have noticed on the trilux tin that I have up to a month to put the boat in the water - Can I just put the primer on for now and then put the trilux antifoul on a day or so before launching ( not intending to launch till March time).

Many thanks so far
Jon
 
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It's disgraceful really that outdrive suppliers, Volvo Penta and Mercruiser don't offer factory applied antifouling . OK, in the US, their main markets ( at least for Mercuiser) a lot are trailer boats/ freshwater boats.; but in Europe, most outdrives must be on boats used in saltwater. Fouling loves their shiny OEM topcoats.
 
GrahamHR said:
It's disgraceful really that outdrive suppliers, Volvo Penta and Mercruiser don't offer factory applied antifouling . OK, in the US, their main markets ( at least for Mercuiser) a lot are trailer boats/ freshwater boats.; but in Europe, most outdrives must be on boats used in saltwater. Fouling loves their shiny OEM topcoats.
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What use would a factory applied anti foul be? Ok for first season I suppose, I'm sure the boat builder is more than capable of applying AF to drive as they do with the hull.
 
jon and michie said:
Today I went to my local chandlers for advice and I have purchased Primocon for the primer and trilux 33 and thinner no3 for cleaning the leg before the first coat and brushes etc.
Click to expand...

That is OK for going over existing sound paint but if you are going over bare metal, that will flake off within 12 months.
One thing to mention though, I noticed one year, before using the two pack epoxy, that the paint on the outdrives looked ok ....until the yard used their high pressure washer on it and stripped loads of it off. After that I told them following years not to touch the drives, I just cleaned them up with a scourer which left all the sound paint intact.
 
dpb said:
That is OK for going over existing sound paint but if you are going over bare metal, that will flake off within 12 months.
One thing to mention though, I noticed one year, before using the two pack epoxy, that the paint on the outdrives looked ok ....until the yard used their high pressure washer on it and stripped loads of it off. After that I told them following years not to touch the drives, I just cleaned them up with a scourer which left all the sound paint intact.
Click to expand...

Good point on the yard not to jet wash the drive - will bear that in mind next year.

would an epoxy primer be appropriate to put on the drive before my main primer to cover any bare metal surfaces ?
and would I need to lightly rub down in between coats ?

I am not expecting the leg to have a paint finish of a Ferrari especially after the next seasons use - I am just more concerned to preserve the casing of the drive from corrosion.
thanks again

Jon
 
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dpb said:
That is OK for going over existing sound paint but if you are going over bare metal, that will flake off within 12 months.
One thing to mention though, I noticed one year, before using the two pack epoxy, that the paint on the outdrives looked ok ....until the yard used their high pressure washer on it and stripped loads of it off. After that I told them following years not to touch the drives, I just cleaned them up with a scourer which left all the sound paint intact.
Click to expand...

Did you verify your 2pack basecoat was suitable for aluminium alloy? And if so did you etch first?
 
jon and michie said:
Good point on the yard not to jet wash the drive - will bear that in mind next year.

would an epoxy primer be appropriate to put on the drive before my main primer to cover any bare metal surfaces ?
and would I need to lightly rub down in between coats ?

I am not expecting the leg to have a paint finish of a Ferrari especially after the next seasons use - I am just more concerned to preserve the casing of the drive from corrosion.
thanks again

Jon
Click to expand...
If you use the epoxy primer over the whole drive the antifoul can go straight on that (at least the Seajet product could). With mine I went over the whole drive with sand paper making sure that all previous loose paint was removed. There was probably only about 20% that was bare metal, that's where the ACID 8 etch primer was used, overspray did not seem to be a problem though. I then did the whole drive in twin pack epoxy (2 coats) and antifouled over that. By the way I took the drives off to do this so I could get to all areas and to the transom shield also.
Like you I was looking for protection rather than beauty, the work was done outside in sub ideal conditions but during the following three years I had the boat it only required minimal touching up.
I am not pretending that this is the correct professional way to paint aluminium drives, just that it worked for me.
 
dpb said:
Yes, and third line in my original recommendation:
'Then spray bare metal with Acid 8 etch primer'
Click to expand...

If you followed procedure correctly then the paint should not have flaked off with a jet wash. That's what's troubling. Where it flaked off was there fresh corrosion underneath?
 
Dpb - so I am right in thinking as I am not going to be using a 2 pack paint -that I would be ok to do the first coat of primer with etch primer and then use primicon to finish off the next few coats of primer ? Would it then be ok to leave the drive like this for a couple of months then put the antifoul paint on a couple of days before the boat goes into the water ?

Thanks so far

Jon
 
Right - I have decided to just go with the primocon and the trilux the leg will be as I said earlier lightly rubbed down - as the boat would be coming out of the water at the end of next season to be anti fouled the leg can be touched up again as necessary.

so my next question (and hopefully the last on this topic) is - Do I need to lightly sand the primer down in between coats?

jon
 
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