Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?

[SummerObsession]

Has anyone done this?

I have Imco extension boxes and SC drives. I would like to paint or powdercoat them to match the boat.
Would powdercoating hold up?

I also thought about polishing and clear powdercoating the owers, but I'm not sure the clear would hold up at 120 MPH+.

Has anyone done this? How did it work?

[Cord]

I had powdercoating on my extension box. The problem was that it had released and laying like a sheet over the corroded aluminum. I stripped the coating off to a white metal condition. I then painted the box with a etching primer and then top coated it with a epoxy. The stuff is holding up great! Several years, and not a single sign of corrosion. Now if you are taling about just painting them to match, that's a different story. Just scuff the surface and spray a guide coat of etching primer. Now you can paint your top coat. No need to remove a good base paint.

[SummerObsession]

That's what I was wondering Cord. Thanks for the info.
I still wonder about clear powdercoating the lowers though.
I have a feeling it wouldn't hold up very long.

[KCHOTBOAT]

My drive has been powder coated for years. The boat run in the upper 80's low 90's. A friend of mine did it at LOTO and he told the reason some people had problems with it was because of poor preping.

[TxHawk]

What would be wrong with polishing the lowers and then painting, will it not stick to that smooth of a surface. I polished my lowers and havent decided how im going to keep them looking nice without running the mine orbital over them every week.

Custom powder colors are availible and can be match the color you selected however the price is generally $ 1,000.00 for custom color and lead time can be up to a couple of weeks - Scuff and paint your existing powder coated finish will work just fine. Solvent clean using a strong solvent like MEK and you will fine the powder has soften slightly - shoot this with a conventional aliphatic polyurethane ( DuPont Imron, Awlgrip etc...) Will hold up forever -

Clear coat paint or powder over polish surface presents adhesion problems and many times the polish compounds are imbeded into the aluminum resulting in poor adhesion - New parts with known compounds are a different story -

Etching primers are not magic - and corrosion needs to be remove then the invisiable salts removed with Chlorrid or salt away - Trapped chlorides will come back to haunt you - Ph adjusted primers are often polyamide epoxy and the good adhesion results in good performance - don't get too carried away with "self etching"

[Payton]

Try the chrome powder coat. The pieces I've seen done with it shine better than polished Aluminum but not quite the shine as real chrome.

If prepped right, it should hold for a very long time.

[Quiet Storm]

How hard is it to remove the boxes from the transom? I need to paint or powder coat mine and thought about painting them on the boat but getting the prep right would be harder to do.

[Cord]

Depends on how the engines are mounted. If they use a front and rear support plate, then the engine wouldn't have to be pulled. If the engine rests on the transom plate, the engine will have to come out. Then there are 8 bolts that attach the box to the transom. Pull the bolts, disconnect the steering lines, pull the gimble and the box is off. Reinstalling a bit more complex because of the gimble bearing alignment, but that is the worst thing. Actually the worst thing would be if somebody used 5200 to seal the box to the transom. You should use 4200 so it can be removed in the future.

Don't suppose you'd be looking for somebody to do this for you? I'll be headed your way later today too.

[Quiet Storm]

Cord

As far as I know the boxes have never been removed. I'll try to find out from Sonic what sealant they use to install them.

Thanks for the offer to remove them but the boats already at a shop with the motors removed and I have to start doing some work on it myself. This boat is putting me in the poor house in a hurry. I'm spending more on the motor rebuild than I had planned.

Roger