Need help with aluminum painting

[Spectre5922]

Some of you know me on here.  I have a '76 19-6 that I have been working on for the last year on and off.  I haven't posted in a while because my project has been dead in the water due to $$ and a growing lack of interest (I H A T E fiberglass work!).
I got this really cool leaning post that has a bench seat on the back that flips up so you can put a cooler underneath it.  The aluminum is dingy, and polishing it is a royal pain in the you-know-what and is going very slow. I thought about painting the frame white, but I've never painted metal for a marine aplication before.
From what I gather so far, I need to sand it with maybe 100 first, then use a zinc chromate primer.  Is that right so far?
After that, do I need to use a special marine aluminum paint?

I have looked online, and either I'm not entering the right phrases into the search engine, or there isn't a lot of info on this.

Any help would GREATLY be appreciated.

With as much work as I have put into her so far, I would hate to get frustrated and sell her incomplete on a whim, but unless I start making some headway soon, that's the direction I'm going.

[gran398]

Hey!

The process you have described is correct.

You could also have it powdercoated. A good powdercoat job lasts a long time. And plus, it's pretty reasonable.

[kraw2]

On my 31' boat I had all the aluminum powder coated. It's much easier to keep clean. It's 4 years old and still looks new.





At my local tower builder they have a paint that matches the powder coating. I will ask them what paint they use and how it's done.

[gran398]

Nice ride kraw! Is it an Ocean Master?

[kraw2]

Yes Sir it is..!

You can visit their website and my boat is their "show boat" in the 31' Center Console section.

Thank you for the compliments. On the T-Top you can see the misting jets that are built in the piping. There are 8 jets around the console with a 1000 psi pump that will fog the entire boat with mist. It's the best thing I ever did. Even the Coast Guard loves them. The first day of Snapper season there were 3 CG boats checking everybody on a huge public live bottom area. When I was checked they came on board to cool off and then called the other boats over to cool down too..!!

On the top you can see the FLIR night vision camera above the spotlight. 2 weeks ago it kept me from running over a kayak at 4:00 am. He had no lights on the kayak.  It scared him and much at it scared me. He showed up on the corner of the screen just as I was leaving my dock and was getting on plane.

[gran398]

Absolutely beautiful! The idea of the misting jets is terrific, I'd like more info on that, so will PM you.

Working manana, so will check out the OM website at work.

VERY nice kraw

[RickK]

Nice looking boat