touch up paint?

[MattInOz]

Hey guys.

I'm busy scraping off the 20+ year old decals from my 4.3m aluminium runabout. Looks a lot cleaner without them and the 1990s decals really aged the boat but man it's a bunch of work... heat gun and scraper for the decals and acetone and elbow grease for the adhesive. Yes, I know I'm not supposed to use acetone on paint, but after trying metholated spirits, cut & polish and an electric polisher, and eucalyptus oil with no joy I'm running short of alternatives (and very open to suggestions)... which brings me to the point of this missive.

The boat - understandably after 24 years - is a bit rough with scratches, bit of corrosion round stainless fittings, and so on. I don't want to go to the trouble and expense of a full two pack repaint of the hull, I'm looking for a low cost method of just tidying up the roughest bits some and wondering if I can use automotive touchup spray cans or similar with any success? I assume any bare metal's going to need priming... do I need etch primer or just regular? Can I use filler primer to smooth out pitted areas from corrosion?  Is there any treatment I need to do to stop the corrosion first, or just sand it back with some wet n dry?

Thanks in advance guys.

[Bretto77]

Hey Matt, brake clean works well for old decal glue. That's what I use anyway.  It just kind of softens it and you can scrape then wipe it off. Generally won't damage paint (as long as it's not 1k acrylic stuff, which I doubt it would be). But try an inconspicuous spot first. 

You will definitely want an etching primer on ally. Alli Brite should help clean in pitted areas. Even just a green scourer is good for getting things back to shiny to take an etch primer. 

You could try getting some cans loaded with matching paint. Cans work out pretty expensive usually.

I would be getting myself some paint matched and using a touch up gun.

[MattInOz]

Mmm that means I have to get a spray gun... and a compressor... and learn how to use it... and then probably never use it again and put it with all the other stuff I've bought and used once. Will prob try my luck with automotive touch up... I should be able to find  shade of white that cones close enough to whatever Ally Craft used way back when. Good call with the etch primer... hadn't heard of Alli Brite. I've got a can of carb cleaner here... will try it out somewhere inconspicuous tomorrow. I've seen what it does to spray can acrylic and it's not pretty... pretty sure it'll be 2 pack on the hull though.

[MattInOz]

Just as a follow up... carby cleaner turns the adhesive to jelly for about a minute. Give it a squirt, scrape with a stanley knife blade in vice grips, rinse and repeat. Doesn't seem to bother the two pack paint... though I made sure to wipe it off pretty quick. Not something I'd recommend if you have a nice flashy paint job... but it gets the adhesive off.

[Bretto77]

Brake clean was my recommendation. It's a very light touch with a sharp Stanley blade, (for me usually between my fingers), in conjunction with a rag. Just a little bit at a time.

Not blasting an area to the point of letting a very volatile liquid run copiously.

Gently, just a little at a time.

[MattInOz]

22 hours ago, Bretto77 said:

Brake clean was my recommendation. It's a very light touch with a sharp Stanley blade, (for me usually between my fingers), in conjunction with a rag. Just a little bit at a time.

Not blasting an area to the point of letting a very volatile liquid run copiously.

Gently, just a little at a time.

Yep I know... but I just happened to have carby clean here and no brake cleaner so I gave that a go. Otherwise it's the same.. quick spray, leave it sit for a few seconds to jellify, then a light scrape with a blade... works a treat. I started off with the blade between my fingers then remembered watching "Dangar Stu" (look him up on youtube if you don't know him) doing similar with vicegrips so gave that a go. Couldn't do it on acrylic paint... carb cleaner just eats that stuff up.

 

Oh btw... I'm going for my licence on Friday, wish me luck.

[Bretto77]

Hope you get it all sorted and are licensed and fishing soon

[Angry51]

Good luck with your license.