repainting outdrives
 

Has anyone used the new marine por 15 ? After getting my outdrive to bare metal im looking for the best paint! thanks

Glad u asked, I need to do some painting as well. How did u strip them down? sand blasting?

Sand blast then powdercoat

Also when you have it down to bare metal what do you use to fill all the imperfections. I have heard some use Liquid Steel or Liquid Metal? I need to do my drives and tabs soon.

Personally, I would not powdercoat drives. A little chip will turn into bubbling very fast and then it will start chipping and peeling off badly.

fill the nicks with JB WELD and use zink chromate to prime..then a durable paint of your liking !

i had mine soda blasted. I didnt like the idea of one piece of sand were it didnt need to be. I also think powder coat in this case is way to thick. imo I have heard that the por 15 is unreal hard. I also heard the standard por didnt like the uv rays so they made a marine one. From the web site you dont have to prime but it will fill in the nicks really well? I think im going try it.

I had planned on using the Marine Trex grey to fill in any imperfections on my drives. It was recommended to me to smooth out the shotty nose cone installation that my boat had before I got it. I plan on priming with a high quality auto primer and painting with something like PPG concept.

I wouldn't bother buying what Merc sells, or listening to their tech advice when it comes to painting a drive. They like to sell their own products and the crap that they sell in the rattle can is junk. I think they use a high-tech elec. painting system from their factory, and we can't duplicate it in our garages (that I know of!).

I agree with Griff about powdercoating. That stuff likes to come off in sheets opposed to chips. I don't want my drive to be bare aluminum by the end of the season.

I just did my upper and my cav plate about a month ago with POR 15. Use the POR self etching primer on the bare aluminum, comes in a spray can. Make sure you get everything very smooth.

The coolest thing about the POR was that it is self leveling. I brushed it on, and thought "No way is that going to level out". The next day I checked it out and you could not tell it wasnt sprayed. It is smooth, incredibly hard stuff, and has a decent shine to it.

A couple bits of advice. If you are brushing it on, brush it on thick enough that it almost starts to run, dont worry about seeing the brush strokes, they will level out. DONT MESS WITH IT WHEN IT IS WET!! Brush it on and leave it alone. Use a good brush, you will be throwing it away when you are done. Dont get this stuff on your hands, it will be there for a long time.

Once you brush it on, leave it alone, I cant stress this enough. It will level out wonderfully.

Just did mine last week. Use Dad's stripper then glass bead then wash with soap and water then wipe with lauquer thinner and paint. If you dont have acess to glass bead or sand blast you can sand them down with 320 grit after you strip them. If they are pitted, you have to glass bead or sand blast, I used JB weld to fill a couple small spots. I like the Merc Phantom black. As far as spray paint goes, its the best stuff you will get out of a can IMO. Use good primer like the green zinc Moeller or possibly the Merc zinc primer - then paint the Merc Phantom black. Merc also has gloss clear drive paint now so I did about 4-5 coats of black than 2 coats of clear. Do it per the directions, do a coat every 5-10 minutes including the clear - it dries to the touch in about 10 minutes. DO NOT put a second coat on in more than 2 hours or less than 2 days, it will wrinkle - i did mine twice! Do the primer, wait 20 minutes then do a coat of paint or clear every 5-10 minutes till completion and you are done. It has a deep thick color and goes on pretty damn good. I am not all that crazy about powdercoat. My tabs were powder coated and bubbled up after less than 2 years.

Griif is right - people underestimate how much force is on a drive at speed. A buddy had his outdrive powdercoated. They are chipping now, after only one season. Same group powdercoated some above waterline stuff for him, and it's fine.

I just googled Marine Tex and that seems like some wicked stuff. (YouTube) Also talked to a few people and that seems like the stuff that is used.

I use marine tex on the hull or so...never on the drives..JB-Weld is used on aluminum !

I put a Hydra-Motive Nose cone on my Bravo 1, sanded everything with 320, then primed with Rust-Oleum Aluminum primer. Then sanded with 400 wet, wiped it down with alcohol then Rust-Oleum black. What a waste of time, first time I hit 80 paint started pealing, I can't keep paint on the skeg to save my life. Has anyone had any luck keeping paint on a drive that does over 80?

paint
 

just a though use swimming pool 2 part epoxy no primer needed last 5 to 10 years on sides & bottom of cement pool.

I painted my drives white 8 years ago with Dupont Chroma One and have had no problems. I didn't even use a primer, I will this year though.

hey guys just finished with the por 15 products very nice! lets see how it holds up now!

Yes! Little past 90 all last season.

Repainted my lowers last spring, started with Martin Senour All Metal primer followed by their Prisim urethane single stage paint. My brother-in-law owns a NAPA store and I had him look into this, above was his paint reps best shot. Boat sits in water all season and came thru looking great. No paint loss, no corrosion or blistering. Prep is the real key, just follow the MS directions for refinishing aluminum. One thing that was brought up to me was not to let the bare aluminum sit after final sanding, you must get it into primer within a few hours, or completely re-sand, something happens that hurts the bond if it sits too long. I would think that 400 might be a little fine for this deal, you need more bite.

He also sells the POR products, and I considered using it, but the MS products came with a more positive nod to hold up.

I also need to repaint my drive, looking for more information. I would like to do this once and hope its last for a few years . Did anyone use por15 or any other primer and paint the drivers with the merc. paint. I want to know how long it lasted. I work at a car dealer with a bodyshop the painter said he can sand down the drives, prime them, paint with a emron black paint, then clear and they sould be fine. What Iam not sure about is the, "should be fine" he never painted boat outdrives before.

Pittsburg paint's line of Pitt-Tech industrial epoxies work really well....you can do it yourself, they flow well, and you can touch up the knicks in a second....they are designed to adhere to bare metal in harsh environments....we've had good success with their stuff....check out their web site....

Sounds ok, my brother-in-law, my paint guy, refers to the MS Prisim urethane as bulldozer blade paint. As I said before the real trick here is in the prep, followed by a real tough finish that is ment to take all sorts of abuse. A local shop uses the Prisim to do road plows and salt boxes, they see it hold up for several years with no problems.

Merc paint is no better than any cheap chit in a rattle can, total waste of time and effort. Been there, done that. A quickie with Rustoleum and a cheap brush will give you far better results. Think about it, if Merc paint held up well, would you need to repaint?

Does merc. have a paint code# for black that is used on the outdrives ?

Ive researched paints just a little and theres a great paint few people know about and its 10x tougher than Imron or Awlgrip and cheap at roughly 50 a gallon its BLP Mothane paint. Mostly used in the yacht/ sail world. Call and talk to the paint engineer and you will be impressed hes tested these 3 and others side by side and outperforms hands down

http://www.blpmobilepaint.com/marinefinishtopside.html

This looks informative-

http://www.boatered.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=97217

Jeff