Best way to strip....

[Quad18star]

So I bought a cheap 12 foot aluminum boat the other night that had been sitting on the guy's dock for a few years. Needless to say the ugly yellow paint is all faded and peeling .

What is the best method to strip the old paint off ? After it's stripped , is there anything I should lay down on the aluminum before painting it?

[KFX450Rrider490]

where is pappy when you need him he'll know. good luck!

[400exrider69]

paint stripper would be my first choice. the highest grade i usaully use air craft stripper should work for aluminum i've never used it on anything but steel.

[FreekShow]

yeah chemical paint stripper. i would go with the paste kind. use a paint scraper or steel wool to take the paint off. the trick is leaving the stripper on there for a long time like 20 minutes. or another really good trick is to take an electric drill and buy one of those nylon wheel attachments they have. put the stripper on the boat and let it sit then take the drill to it with that nylon brush wheel. definitely wear goggles and gloves though! the stripper is a nasty chemical and it will burn like hell! i have refinished furniture for 10 years so i have used this stuff half my life.

[FreekShow]

also before you paint it, find a "marine" sealer for it before you paint it. also make sure you use "marine" paint. made specifically for painting things that get alot of water abuse.

[TRX_450]

just have it blasted. its what i did before i herculined it and painted it.

[FreekShow]

yeah thats a good idea too as long as you got the extra cash laying around to get it sandblasted.

[CJM]

Oven cleaner, really. Spray on them forget it for about an hour.

[Quad18star]

I really don't want to spend the $$ to get it blasted ... I only paid $160 for the boat. It's gunna be a bush boat and I just want to strip it down and redo all the seems since whatever he put on it is now very brittle and breaking off. Plus the yellow looks like hell.

[ZeroLogic]

My first thoughts when I read the title of the tread was goin to be tequila.:macho

If it were me, I'd bust out the sander and just sand off the old paint or the loose paint. Aircraft grade stripper works well also.

[eastcoastpro20]

aircraft stripper

[Pappy]

You have to be careful with thin aluminum. Some strippers will eat away at the aluminum far to aggressivley....not to mention attack any seals or repair work that you dont know about!

Id scrape what I could, sand what I could then use a good etching primer and paint.

Blasting would require walnut hull or plastic beads and would be fairly expensive.

[Quad18star]

Ya I don't imagine this aluminum is very thick. It's a Reynolds boat ...... I wonder if it's the same company that makes the Reynolds aluminum cooking foil. :confused:

I read somewhere about the oven cleaner like someone suggested ... I may give that a shot. I'll also see about getting a stripping attachment for my angle grinder.

I'll post pics if this boat once it stops raining ... she's an eye sore the way it sits right now... but I think once I'm done it'll look decent. Maybe I'll paint it and flip it to get a 14 footer. :devil:

[TRX_450]

i know they bead blasted mine and it was 50 bucks. my 8x10 enclosed trailer was only 100 bucks to have blasted

[Quad18star]

Originally posted by TRX_450
i know they bead blasted mine and it was 50 bucks. my 8x10 enclosed trailer was only 100 bucks to have blasted

There's a place in town that does soda blasting .... I'll give them a shout tomorrow . I Just thought about them.

[eastcoastpro20]

u could use 80 grit sand paper then 180 then 320

[aDviSol2y]

Originally posted by Quad18star
Ya I don't imagine this aluminum is very thick. It's a Reynolds boat ...... I wonder if it's the same company that makes the Reynolds aluminum cooking foil. :confused:

Ok, so that was my good laugh for the day :D Thank you!

[Tommy Warren]

sand it quick and send it to pappy for powdercoating:D

[buck440]

since i majored in collision repair in college i learned one thing about sanding aluminum, the metal goes away very fasl lol. subrus always were a pain to sand...point is you'll begin to profile aluminum pretty quickly since it is softer than steal. maby you can chemically strip, wash really good, then seal it back up like new:macho

[jcv400ex]

For you case....make sure you're in low light....and wear a paper bag!

[sunco]

peel off. its at homer the depot. paint it on. cover w/ the plastic it comes with and guess what? thats right peel off :D