79 Sceptre 23-Painting the Aluminum winshield frame

[Brooks Reid]

My 79 23' Seacraft Sceptre windshield has some pitting and corrosion and I was thinking about sanding and painting it white to give it a powder coat look without breaking the bank.
Anyone ever tried this?

I'm just going to mask it off and use some ivory white satin spray paint. I'm just wondering what kind of paint and how long I could expect it to last in a boat.

Thanks

Brooks

[ssscotty]

I bought my boat with the frames already painted black. not sure of the type of paint but I will tell you I find myself constantly touching them up. they just seem to get scratches. I am actually thinking about bringing them back to its original aluminum finish. not sure if any paint will be scratch free. either way it seems you are either maintaining the aluminum or touching up the paint every so often.

[Capt Chuck]

Signature Finish will work just fine and last years. Easy to touch up when needed.

http://www.signaturefinish.com/index...gnature+Finish

[abl1111]

When I resto'd my boat years ago - I wanted to do my windshield over too. The guy helping me, a very experienced fiberglass guy said that if I painted them, with anything ( I was thinking powder coating, because of the flex where they join, the paint would chip off. So, I never did it. My windshield is the only thing not redone and I personally wouldn't want to deal with having to re-paint little chips with any frequency…

[Islandtrader]

Black is Black and very easy to keep a small touch up bottle on board...so when you see a chip just do it!

[Rufneck]

My windshield had very heavy salt build-up and was pitted. There was no way I was going to get it looking right so I removed it and had it powder coated. It is now the same color as the gelcoat. I really like it and think it turned out well.

[Handful in NC]

I sanded the corrosion smooth on my frames and painted with black Signature. It scratches easily, but is also easy to touch up. I was told I should have etched and primed the aluminum. Regardless, touch up paint is easy.

Signature can be easily brushed or rolled to get a very smooth finish, which is much easier and more controlled that spraying. Cleaning up overspray that drifts and is electrostatically attracted (like to a nearby car windshield) can be a royal pain.

[Handful in NC]

Those white frames look great!

[Copper Collar]

Not sure how well it translates to aluminum but when I was making bumpers and rock sliders for trucks the paint would chip and scratch very easily unless you used a self etching primer first. Might be worth a try.

[bigeasy1]

You could do absolutely nothing and just call it "PATINA"

I think a high quality two part urethane would do a good job.I restored an aluminum boat and painted it with Sunfire urethane.
For more than ten years I trailered that boat all over New England on crummy back roads,and bumped into several docks and bounced a lot of down rigger weights off the hull.
That paint held up incredibly well to lots of abuse.
After all those years it looked almost as good as the day it was painted.

It was a lot of work however,I stripped it all down to bare aluminum,sanded every surface,and had to apply a coat of vinyl etching primer,followed by a coat of sealer,then the finish coat.

I thought about doing the windshield frame on my Tsunami,but the thought of doing all that tedious work,sanding and prepping all those small areas and weatherstrip channels stopped me from doing it.
I ended up just cleaning it with some Woody Wax and some bronze wool.It's far from perfect and there is some pitting,but I'm so used to it that I don't notice it.I figure it's a fishing boat,not a show boat.
People still give me thumbs up even with the aged windshield frames.

Good luck, post up some pics when you finish.