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Painting Bravo One Sterndrive

J

Jgabell

New member
Hey y'all, so recently picked up a Searay with a Bravo one Drive. With the season closing out in my area im doing all the needed maint.. The drive was in pretty bad shape corrosion wise and it had to do with the Mercathode system not working properly. That's all fixed as of now, my question is I see a lot of people using Alodine to pretreat before primer. Because of the corrosion and i'm a stickler for appearance ive spent the last two days using Metal 2 Metal to fill the corrosion pitting AFTER sandblasting the drive. My question is can you use alodine over the M2M or did i screw myself by using the filler before hand? also any tips tricks or whatever you got would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!
 
Alodine prepares the Al surface to hold paint. Omit it and the paint will fall off.

Jeff (former Al yacht owner)
 
fastjeff said:
Alodine prepares the Al surface to hold paint. Omit it and the paint will fall off.

Jeff (former Al yacht owner)
Click to expand...

yeah I’m intending on usuing the alodine but unsure if it can be used over Evercoats metal 2 metal filler i used on the drive surface? The drive had some pretty bad corrosion spots so i wanted to fill those areas in after blasting the drive but already put down the filler.
 
since it's polyester resin based filler you treat it like regular Bondo (not waterproof). I would first do the Alodine wash, followed by a coat of epoxy primer (grey tinted) followed by your metal to metal filler then another coat of epoxy primer after sanding followed by a 2 part primer/filler followed by the top coats.
Dunno if your are trailering or if it is kept in the water and whether that water is fresh or salty. But if you do the above you'll have a rock hard finish that will stand up to years of submersion.
Alternately you could purchase the aluminum powder and mix it with System 3 or West System epoxy for better adhesion and water proof-ness. I'm pretty sure that it would be a bitch to sand so you wanna apply it with care and use a good plastic spreader
 
o2batsea said:
since it's polyester resin based filler you treat it like regular Bondo (not waterproof). I would first do the Alodine wash, followed by a coat of epoxy primer (grey tinted) followed by your metal to metal filler then another coat of epoxy primer after sanding followed by a 2 part primer/filler followed by the top coats.
Dunno if your are trailering or if it is kept in the water and whether that water is fresh or salty. But if you do the above you'll have a rock hard finish that will stand up to years of submersion.
Alternately you could purchase the aluminum powder and mix it with System 3 or West System epoxy for better adhesion and water proof-ness. I'm pretty sure that it would be a bitch to sand so you wanna apply it with care and use a good plastic spreader
Click to expand...


ahhh that makes sense! Yeah it’s going to trailered but salt water not fresh. So I’m not to worried about growth on the drive as it would be cleaned after every time out. But bring that the anodes and the mercathode were not working properly it pitted the lower drive pretty bad all superficial but still. Any recommendations on the primer and top coat? I’ve read a few things but I’m just lost as to what would be best to use. I’m more so looking for the factory shiny finish rather than the anti fouling matte look.
 
I buy my paints from Jamestowndistributors.com
I like Interlux as it is not terribly expensive and is tailored to the do it yourselfers out there. Awlgrip is really good stuff but a lot more expensive.

A pre prime wash with isopropyl alcohol is all you need if you are using epoxy primer. Interlux Epoxy Primekote is a quart kit that you don't need to buy separate base and activator like you do with awl grip.
For your final prime you can use more of the interlux if you don't need a high fill primer.
On top, the interlux Perfection is a very easy to use two-part polyurethane. It can be brushed, rolled or sprayed. Spray is best of course, but it lays out well with a brush and self levels very nicely and offers high gloss. I find that thinning always helps and applying several thin coats is better than one or two heavy ones. Use a really good brush not a 2 dollar cheapie.
 
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