Epoxy Bottom Paint

[trav13]

I am looking for suggestions on a epoxy based bottom paint for my aluminum boat. The boat is kept on a lift or on trailer all the time. Not really worried about marine growth.

But I am looking for a paint to more protect my bottom from corrosion and wear from the bunks and lift.

Any suggestions?

[21ftcc]

What about a fusion bonded epoxy?

[goatram]

I am looking for suggestions on a epoxy based bottom paint for my aluminum boat. The boat is kept on a lift or on trailer all the time. Not really worried about marine growth.

But I am looking for a paint to more protect my bottom from corrosion and wear from the bunks and lift.

Any suggestions?

Instead of Carpet on your trailer Bunks and lift touching your Hull install plastic glide pieces. EZ Loader has them as do others. They allow the area to dry off and not stay wet. The prep for painting your hull is labor intensive. The paint supplies are Expensive and really not needed if you install the glides.

If you install solid pieces of plastic on your bunks there is a thread about installing channels and countersinking the screws far enough down so no contact is made with the Aluminum.

[Chaps]

Its tough to get any kind of paint to properly stick to aluminum boat hulls so if you want something on there you'll really need to go through all the prep procedures that someone needing a serious bottom job would be required to do namely sandblasting, acid etch primer, barrier coat epoxy (or chlorinated rubber primer) and then the top coat which will have to be some type of decent bottom paint. Your likely better off not painting since the amount of corrosion you will get on a boat spending most of its time out of the water won't be worth the cost & effort. Pay heed to the bunk covers per the above posts and you should be fine.

[Katoh]

trav13
I am in the process now of a full repaint of the bottom plates on my boat, and I am using epoxy followed by a clear urethane.
To do it right you do need to go back to raw aluminium. My procedure is as follows. Clean to raw state aluminium, remove paint and dirt high pressure clean ect. I used a hot air gun with a really sharp chisel to remove the paint, then an angle grinder with a scotchbrite pad. A lot of work but come up a treat.
First coat I am using Prekote http://www.pantheonchemical.com/media/1 ... 0sheet.pdf
Then one coat Sigmacover 280 http://marinemanual.sigmacoatings.com/files/00_7417.pdf
then 2 coats of Epinamel DTM900 http://www.wattyl.co.nz/Technical/docum ... 0%20v4.pdf
and Finally 2 coats of Poly U 750 http://www.wattyl.net.au/industrial/doc ... 0%20v3.pdf
The reason for the Poly on top in my case, its just a clear coating to protect the epoxy. The poly is very hard wearing, and it also stops the epoxy from going chalky. Hope this all helps, but please keep in mind the price of these products, not cheap at all. There are other systems, this is just one that I am going to use, as I have left over coatings from previous jobs.
Good luck

[Chaps]

Nice sounding system there Katoh, I'm going to look into a couple of those products. You likely know but for the benefit of others the last poly coating you are using is nasty stuff requiring a respirator with remote filtered air supply. Face masks with canister filters won't protect you properly from that stuff.

[Katoh]

Chaps thanks, but more of a thank you for pointing out the nasties in these products. Gents you really need some respiratory equipment when spraying these products. One good thing All these products can be rolled on, mind you will require an extra coat to achieve film thickness, and the finish will not have that absolute smoothness to it but the job will still be good. Even when using a roller make sure to wear a respirator, especially on the Poly U the Isocyanate is the bad one!