Cord

I'm already in the poor house. Just hoping I could take you down with me.

SummerObsession

this is good info.!
I hate to go to all the trouble to polish the lowers then have them look like sh*t as soon as it is dipped in the water.
It soulds like powdercoating may be the answer, as long as the prep is done correctly.

Quiet Storm

I have the boxes off my boat now and was going to drop them off for powder coating but asked a few questions first. The powder coater said:

1. The boxes had to be sand blasted with mineral media to remove the old paint and corrosion. This type of media would not damaging the metal.

2. Any sealants have to be removed before sandblasting. The type of media used may not take them off and after sandblasting the parts can't be touched again with bare hands. If more cleaning had to be done it would require that they be sandblasted again.

3. Any imperfections left on the surface, dents or pit marks from corrosion, would show up as shiny spots. Powder coating will not level or fill in. To fill in spots you have to use hot lead and this is something he doesn't do.

4. My boxes have wing plates bolted to the side for mounting the cylinders. They have to be taken off and powder coated separately.

5. I have Imco boxes and thought they were powder coated but he said no, they were painted.

6. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Quiet Storm

What they look like now.

Zanie

Hey Roger!
You should probably just get new ones.
I could get those old pesky boxes out of your way for you

When I powdercoated my trim tabs I learned a tough lesson.
If you have any pits, you must smooth them out; take a ball nosed bit on a die grinder and make little smooth "cups" out of the pits. The powedercoat doesn't like to flow over pointy surface, and when you sandblast that corrosion that's what you'll end up with. The pointy parts will end up with no coating and you'll be back to funky white stuff in no time.
So if you powdercoat, you will most likely have a little funk wherever there is pitting (unless you find somebody to fill the spots).

If they were mine (you know, if you bought new ones)' I'd blast all the paint off them and fill the deep oxidation pits with West Systems epoxy with the high density filler (or the aluminum filler). Sand em smooth, prime em and shoot imron on them.
But that's just me.
Good Luck!
Dan

offthefront

I agree with Zanie ... I dissasembled one of my Bravo drives and had it PC ...when I went to get it ...it looked great cept for anywhere there was corrosion before looked pitted ....makes it really stand out ....my PC gut said he could put 2-3 coats on but you need to do alot of sanding between coats ...time and $$ ..also with any older aluminum they preheat and cool ( call it Gassing) and preheat before the PC is applied ....to try to prevent corrosion from causing problems ....

Quiet Storm

Dan

I thought about just replacing them too until I priced them out.

I'm going to clean up the surfaces that are damaged before I send them for sand blasting and see how they look when they come back. I could live with some surface imperfections but if I can't get enough out, I'll have them filled in and painted.

Thanks for the offer to take them off my hands but I have to give it a shot first.

Roger

Liberator21

To fill the imperfections, you can use something called Lab Metal. Eastwood sells it, as well as some powdercoating suppliers like: columbiacoatings.com. It works like a regular filler, but will hold up to the powdercoat curing temps. The metal has got to be super clean, and baking the parts to outgas any oils or solvents must be done (aluminum can be porous). Prep is everything! I've done some small outboard lowers (10hp), and they've held up pretty well.

Zanie

Lab Metal?
Cool!
I get a new eastwood catalog every month and never noticed that stuff.
Thanks!

Quiet Storm

I just spoke to a guy that has a paint shop and he recommended having them powder coated. He said the paint will not hold up nearly as well. I guess I'll have to go with his advice.