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I painted three aluminum boats in my life,
one an old deap V 17 foot aluminum boat. I used a marian paint that was perchased from a boat retail store. no refinishing was involoved on my part.
second I painted an aluminum canoe after cleaning with xylol aluminum cleaner. it striped off old paint and cleaned the hull completely. I then primed it then painted it with aluminum primer and followed up with aluminum paint. several yars later it flaked off in big flakes.
the last one I did "12 foot aluminum row boat" I buffed the boat with a green schotch brite pad and then applied two coats turtle paist wax on the hull, I paited above the water line with rustolium. no flaking bottom glissens. it is a good idea to wax it every year, since I turn my boat upside down every year come spring it is ready for me to rub down with a schotch brite pad and wax again.
the first time I buffed it by hand was a chore, wished I would have had a power circular buffer.
after waxing the bottom of the boat I swear it glided across the top of the water.
hope this helps.
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I forgot to mention after buffing I washed with soap and water and rinced well towl dried and allowed the boat to set upside down in the sun to bake dry before painting.
after painting I allowed it to bake dry in the sun for a good week or so.. again I did not paint the bottom of the boat, I figured I would be dragging it across sand grass and gravel so painting the bottom was not worth the effort. I painted the back and the sides of the hull above the water rib. no flaking. I have made a couple scratches, but I dont realy mind. I can touch those up any time.
it is imperitive you get the metal clean and dry as a bone before painting.
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I was thinking about using that paint on bed liner material for the bottom. What do you think about that?
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I think you will be vary unhappy with that material, I have some and have used it on wheel wells, I would never dream of putting it on my boat. except maybe under my back board. that material scratches just as easily as paint when sliding over gravel.
it looks horable, adds unwanted weight to your boat and will slow you down on the water.
the aluminum shines up like new if you just buff it out and put a coat of wax on it. the wax will keep it from oxidizing which is the only reason you would want to paint it.
in the spring a new coat of wax every year applied in just about a half hour and your done for another year.
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Dave, Thanks for the Tip. This thing is heavy enough. I'll try your route and see how it goes as soon as it warms up a bit.
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