Miracle paint....

[TC Chris]

I've been using a Pettit marine paint product called Rustlok. It's a ferrous metals primer designed for underwater service. My boats both have cast-iron keels, and the antifouling paint we use to keep plants & animals from setting up camp on the boat's bottom is copper-bearing. Iron & copper in water = battery. Keeping the iron coated with some barrier is crucial. Both boats came to me used. At any rate, the Rustlok is the best stuff I've found. And then I started experimenting with it on aluminum, which is hard to paint in a corrosive environment. Apparently aluminum oxidizes so quickly that it's hard to make paints stick. So I've been "wet sanding" the Rustlok into the aluminum. First I soak the corroded part in vinegar, if possible, and wire-brush it as much as possible. Then I use a small wire brush to apply the paint. It seems to be working. Same with the iron surfaces--the job gets smaller each year. Today I did some touch-up on my aluminum outboard motor propeller.

Problem is, Rustlok comes in quarts (or gallons). I use about 2 Tbsp. per year. It's a urethane, moisture-curing point. Urethane, as in Gorilla Glue. Ever try to get Gorilla Glue ff your hands? The paint is a pretty good glue. In fact, if you're not very careful, it will glue the lid of the paint can on. When you go to remove it, the can destructs. Now your problems are just beginning. If the lid area is damaged and doesn't seal well, atmospheric moisture gets in, and the next time the rip the lid off, the can has turned solid. The stuff runs $40/quart, so it's (a) inconvenient and (b) heartbreaking.

I've been keeping my cans in the fridge to slow down any reactions. But today I had to destroy a can to get it open. I have learned the hard way to keep an empty paint can on hand. We'll see how long I can keep this quart going. It's an unhappy moment when your $40 paint has solidified after using 1/10 of the can.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Sounds like that stuff we used to use on car frames. It turned rust into inert material that wouldn't corrode anymore. POR-something.

[TC Chris]

This isn't one of those "rust converters" that turn the rust black. It's basically a urethane paint filled with aluminum flakes--a silver finish. Seems to me that the "rust converter" products are not designed for continuous underwater service. The maker recommends recoating within a couple hours (depending on ambient temp) so you get a chemical bond. Otherwise you have to sand to give a physical bond. I just wandered out to lock up the shop and put the 2nd finish coat on my propeller. This is a just a touch-up job since the application process is more successful now and the annual corrosion spots much smaller. Two coats of urethane, two coats of black Rust-Oleum today.

Chris Campbell

[William]

It sound like the paint your are talking about, Chris, and the paint you are talking about, Greg have the same temperament. I am familiar with the POR product that Greg mentioned having used it on automotive projects. Having worked pretty much in the auto industry, I had connections with lots of suppliers. I was close to one of our salesmen and he gave me some advice when I purchased my first can of POR. He said, "if you get any of this paint on the lip of the lid or in the groove of the can you won't get the lid off again without destroying the can". His next statement, "The next time you need some paint from the can drill a hole in the lid, pour out what you want, and put a screw in the hole". That is precisely what I did and never had any trouble. I have also purchased new paint cans at my local hardware or a box store. I have never tried this, but, I would think it would work. Pour your extra paint in a glass canning jar, then put a couple of layers of plastic wrap on it and gently screw on the cover.

Bill

[walyfd]

I used POR-15 when I was doing the '57. Got it on my hands once and I think it took 3 weeks to wear off.

Great stuff but needs to be used as directed.

[TC Chris]

I have never tried this, but, I would think it would work. Pour your extra paint in a glass canning jar, then put a couple of layers of plastic wrap on it and gently screw on the cover.

Bill

That was my plan in case Ace Hardware didn't have any quart cans.

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

I used POR-15 when I was doing the '57. Got it on my hands once and I think it took 3 weeks to wear off.

Great stuff but needs to be used as directed.

OK, that must be the urethane stuff. You cannot remove it. You just wait for the skin cells to slough off.

Chris Campbell

[Hydrolastic]

I once used POR and put the remainder in a frapachino bottle only I Never was able to open it again! However when my painter buddy sprayed semi gloss POR on the frame of my MG it is the best! It was sandblasted kept clean and dry and painted with no primer. I used rustloc in the marine field, never underwater though. On aluminum boats we would use gray 545 and the awl grip system. That paint however is made up of ground up paper money... I do like your system though of sanding it into the metal. Here is a thought, Ever wonder why you prep a surface perfectly and the next year it falls off and then if you spill a drop on a dirty deck and you can't ever get it off again ?

[Firedome]

Chris, for aluminum typically one primers it with Zinc Chromate as a first stage, then after v well dried (I leave it a couple of weeks) topcoat with barrier paint. I've been restoring vintage (aluminum + wood) boats and outboards (see www.aomci.org) for over 40 years, and it's worked well, for those at least. My long-stored 1959 Golden Anniversary Evinrude Fisherman 5.5 is on the agenda for restoration this summer, along with new bottom paint in blue for the 12' Mirro-Craft, which will also get Zinc Chromate primer before Interlux TriLux 33 (for aluminum) bottom paint.

We used to use Interlux Copper ablative paints on our '62 Thompson 16' wood runabout and '66 Chris Craft Cavalier Crusader 30ft'er (twin Chrysler poly 318s) but that stuff was highly toxic, sure wouldn't use it now. Fresh water is worse for wood dry-rot than salt, but salt is worse for marine organism growth. We got rid of the woodies when maintenance became more like a career than a hobby, outside brightwork re-varnish was required 2 x a summer when left in the water! No doubt woodies are beautiful when pristine, but way too much work to keep them that way! And I'd sure hate to fill the 100 gallon tank on the CC these days!!

[TC Chris]

Here is a thought, Ever wonder why you prep a surface perfectly and the next year it falls off and then if you spill a drop on a dirty deck and you can't ever get it off again ?

My Dad bought an aluminum boat in 1955, a good sturdy one. In those days aluminum boats came in plain old aluminum, no fancy paint. It had some grease-pencil factory marks on it. They are still there. Once once my brother laid some boards across it to paint. The yellow paint is still there too. If I had wanted it to stick, I would have been SOL.

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

Chris, for aluminum typically one primers it with Zinc Chromate as a first stage, then after v well dried (I leave it a couple of weeks) topcoat with barrier paint. I've been restoring vintage (aluminum + wood) boats and outboards (see www.aomci.org) for over 40 years, and it's worked well,

No doubt woodies are beautiful when pristine, but way too much work to keep them that way! And I'd sure hate to fill the 100 gallon tank on the CC these days!!

I tried zinc chromate, a version from Rust-Oleum, and never had much luck with it on outboard parts that stayed immersed. That's why I was happy to fond success with the Rust-Lok. Pettit's web site admits that you can use it successfully on aluminum, although the can & catalog info are all about ferrous metals. I tried it on aluminum before reading their online confession, figuring that it was as tenacious on the aluminum as it was on my skin and on the can lid, I was in luck.

A friend inherited his family's 45-foot, 1954 Chris-Craft, a freshwater vessel all its life. And yeah, the fresh water environment is hard on wooden boats. The only good news about that is that where we are, boats are stored for about half of each year. The big cruiser has supported the local economy (that's my lingo for paying somebody else to do work) pretty well the last few years. Now bottom; new cabin/superstructure wood here and there. He can afford it. I am grateful for my fiberglass boats, even if the older one has lots of mahogany and spruce spars to maintain. There is much to be said for a tolerable work to play ratio.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

I also had bad luck with Rustoleum zinc chromate, but did well with the stuff sold by OMC.

Our CC was carvel mahogany plank, not plywood, so a real bear to do the re-do the bottom or topsides, not for an amateur, it takes a real expert. She was starting to go on the stern below the waterline so I sold her for next to nothing, for parts really, but the next owner did patch her up and re-named her "Leaky Lady" lol. We saw her in water for a couple of years, not sure how long after that she remained sea-worthy.

The PO of "C'est la Vie" was Ken Lonergan who built the Champlain Marina in Mallet's Bay, post WWII, age 89 at the time I bought her. He died a couple of years later, at the time I think he must have seen me coming. We did get his slip for 1 year but after that we quickly learned how expensive a big boat is to haul, store, lay up for winter, re-launch, not to mention the degree of maintenance that has to be DIY, for non-wealthy owners at least. Well it was fun while it lasted, and we did get some good pics pf the whole family aboard, 15 yr old daughter sun-bathing on the foredeck, etc. Then it was back to more sensible and financially manageable craft for us. Still, she sure was pretty when freshly done-up each late Spring. Dad being a Navy man, we always had boats, and I've had boats almost as long as cars, and would be very sad to give up the fun on-the-water times.