I am an Idiot

[TimQ]

Hello, My name is Tim, and yes I am an idiot. With that being said I really need help. I live on the coast of south Carolina in salt water. I left my 16ft aluminum boat in the water too long and when I pulled it out a couple of weeks
ago it was covered in barnacles. I have scrapped them off but had to sand to get the rest off, which brought me down to bare metal. I have no experience in anti fouling paint, but have been researching online. The best I have
come up with on my own is to use Trilux 33. I trailer my boat after use. I saw some posts of prepping bare aluminum with rustoleum self etching primer. But I really don't want to make any mistakes and have to do the job over.
I was going to put 5200 sealant over the rivets while in the process. I would appreciate any help in this matter. Thanks in advance. Tim

[Napa Mike]

welcome Tim. There are several guys on the board who are experts on this--but sadly not me. Chaps or one of the others will see your post and get you some answers. Meanwhile, welcome.

Cheers,
Mike

[Chaps]

You are not an idiot, stuff happens! If you are planning to apply bottom paint I wouldn't put any 5200 sealer (or similar) on the bottom as paint products won't stick to it. You might want to reset the rivets if they are leaking. Also if you are leaving the boat in the water for extended periods you ought to install a hull anode below the waterline to reduce damage from galvanic corrosion which particularly in the case of a riveted boat can lead to general hull failure. I've saved a couple of these boats by sandblasting the hulls to bright metal, coating with coal tar epoxy barrier coat then applying a good aluminum compatible bottom paint like Vivid. An easier DIY process would be to sand and wire brush (ss cup brush only) the bottom to get everything as clean and bare as possible (including the nooks and crannies), apply 3 coats of Seahawk 1277 single component barrier coat and then bottom paint. I've never had good anti-foul results with Trilux 33 btw. Good luck

[goatram]

Tim
Welcome to AAB
Bob is our bottom Doc. He knows his stuff about bottom paint.

[kmorin]

Tim, We've all done something that seems like a poor decision at the time or had circumstances where we paid attention to the wrong item in our priorities, no big deal unless the boat were rolled in the surf in a huge storm making it ready for the land fill or a raised bed potato planter.

My post is mostly about SS wire brushes, and the others here have heard me preach this before so they can just bear with, or ignore me.

SS wire comes in a couple of alloys of wire that are made into power brushes or into hand brushes and most all the alloys will work to clean aluminum alloy without an deposit of corrosive material. Steel wire brushes on the other hand will leave some iron oxide dust behind and when you rinse the boat you can, and other have done this, leave an entire rust colored panel of the boat. Now you would feel like someone without much sense.

Next; the diameter of the wire, in the tool, is the critical buying selection issue. SS wire brushes are made to work on many different materials for many different purposes some of them are thick, very hard, solid Stainless Steel pipes, bars and shapes. In this case the wire can be thick so it lasts longer and the resilience of a nice 0.018 or 0.020" diameter wire will clean oxides, weld slag, and almost anything else off the steel or stainless steel weldments.

But this thicker wire will gouge, cut, dig and excavate aluminum alloys in almost all cases when used to remove the surface contaminants whether for welding or just prepping for paint.

The thickest wire you should accept for cleaning your skiff is 0.014" wire in a twisted pattern. This brush is usually available at the LWS but often they are not aware of the damage that coarse wires can do to the thin softer riveted aluminum hull.

http://www.airgas.com/browse/productDet ... =WBU08395D here's a wheel with heavier wire and is flat, not what Chaps recommends for area cleaning.
http://www.airgas.com/browse/productDet ... AD64000356
smaller diameter wire, cup type brush that will be less abrasive to the metal and just as cleaning to the surface.

like any power tool and its accessories or blades and bits, skill is required for that tool. The grinder/sander on aluminum should not be held still or pressed down into the metal but left to float and if the area needs more work, then pass over it again and again, don't stop still and just stay put when brushing or buffing or sanding.

Hot water over an upturned skiff with Clorox will help lift any of the little critters still alive but wont' help with those in skeletal form.

Self etching primer is not as effective as acid and Jettywolf has an entire set of videos here (somewhere) showing him cleaning his skiff a while back. I think reading the site for paint prep and the overall awareness of chemical layers needed to get good adhesion is worth the time my self.

good luck

Cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK

[TimQ]

Thanks guys good stuff. I have already sanded the bottom, did not know about the ss brushes, by the way what does ss stand
for?. and what do I do now, I just used regular sand paper on a palm sander. Thanks for any help.

[goatram]

Tim
SS Stands for Stainless Steel.
Befor you paint your girl's bottom On the same day you paint wash down with Aluma Brite rinse and then dry first thing in the morning then paint. Aluminum starts to skin over/oxidizes within hours of sanding or acid washing. A lasting paint job is attained by the proper paint prep.

[TimQ]

Thanks John, will do, Have a great Sunday. TQ