Engineering and fabrication

How do I paint the aluminum on the side railings of a pontoon boat?

I have a 24 foot pontoon boat. It is a 1988 Weere's brand.The aluminum on the railings are already painted a light tan and brown, and I would like to update the color some. The aluminum has a pitted look, not smooth to the touch, so I don't know about the sanding part. Any info would be great. Where do I start? Thanks.

Public Comments

1. you will have to sand then primer it


2. First you need to sand the top coat of the existing paint so that the paint you are going to put on won't bubble up on you.

   Then, apply a primer/filler base coat, (block) sand till smooth. Repeat as necessary untill the pits are gone. Then add your top coat.



3. you,ll need to sand it off real good ,and then you need some epoxy primer,,this is the only kind of primer that will actually stay on aluminum and never let go,this stuff is good but its expensive,and must be sprayed from a spray gun with air,,but if you,ll do this ,it will stay on forever,,we painted ours 5 years ago,and pulled it out this year to check it,,its still as good as when we painted it,,good luck with it,i hope this help,s.PS if you,ll use poly urethane paint ,that's the best for what your painting,,it will last.


4. Yes, you will need to sand it but not all the way down to the aluminum.You see aluminum must be treated before it is painted and since yours already has paint on it that existing paint is already a good surface to paint over.

   More than likely whoever painted it used an acrylic enamel based paint.Like rust-oleum brand.

   Sand the existing paint with a 320 grit dry paper. you can buy this at most hardware stores.Just sand it light at first to see how easy it smooths out.

   You don't want to cut into it too much just smooth it out and scratch it up some to give the new paint something to stick to.

   Buy the paint that comes in a regular can that you brush on,not the aerosol can paint.

   When painting railings and thinner surfaces like what you are doing aerosol paint will be too messy because too much of it will end up wasted in the air instead of on the surface.

   Also for a smoother finish,add like 3% of mineral spirits or enamel reducer to your gallon of paint.This will help it go on better and will help to flow more so when it drys you wont see so much of the brush marks from the paint brush.

   Good luck!



5. a sand blaster works great


6. hire some one to do it


7. Wear thin rubber gloves, soak cotton rag in paint pot. pass rag round rail and you can work out the rest, actually why not just wear cotton gloves?