Can I or Should I paint my mast, boom and other aluminum?

Hello group. I made the mistake of buying an old and worn H 16. It probably should be scrapped, but that just isn't in me. So I figure I'll start by figuring out how to revive the aluminum. I'll eventually have to replace the tramp so I plan on doing all the tubes and parts. So is there w way that a guy in his shop can restore these parts? Can they be painted and expected to hold up their finish? Any other way to coat them? Maybe just a scotchbrite polish? Looking for ideas.

Thanks,
Ron

Ron,

Don't make the mistake I made in using JB Weld to fill in the corroded pits, etc. in the black anodized aluminum, before I painted it. I had used a dremel tool with a wire brush, steel wool and fine sand paper along with etching, primer and topcoat.

For some unknown reason, the JB Weld spots started to ooze and swell a few months later wrecking my almost like new paint job. Now it looks like it has acne.

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Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

Bare aluminum (without anodizing) must be chromate conversion coated to passivate the aluminum before epoxy will stick to it permanently. Otherwise (as you discovered), the aluminum will oxidize and swell, popping off the epoxy.

But to the original question - when you say things like, "I made the mistake of buying an old and worn H 16. It probably should be scrapped" - then you're probably right. Sail it like you stole it, spend the bare minimum on it and save your money to buy a boat in better shape.

Love what you do with your boat, not the boat itself - because it can never, ever love you back.

Matt, without going through a plating process or using chromic acid, is there a way that a DIY person can apply a chromate conversion coating?

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Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

Short answer is no. The chemicals involved are just too nasty for the DIY person - and there's no way for the average person to dispose of them (remember Erin Brockovich? That whole story was about groundwater contamination with hexavalent chromium).

Gougeon Brothers (the WEST System guys) used to sell a conversion kit that used a 2-part process, with phosphoric/flouric acid and hexavalent chromic acid. I've still got a few ounces left from a project when I was in high school - 40 years ago. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the stuff.

Thanks for the thought, but not much help to the actual question.

Wait! You're telling me that my boat doesn't love me?

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Steve
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795
1985 & 1973? Hobie 14 "Sea & Ski"

I painted mine with Krylon primer, painting all components in the radiant sun on a hot day. It worked for me and it wears very well !!!

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Happy Sailing,

David

Could try carbon fibre stick on tape.

Saw a 14t with spars and tramp frame done, looks the part and appears to durable

Scotty

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84 Turbo

I went through this same process.. Sail it like you stole it and do the bare minimum to keep it on the water.

I started with several old boats in need of help.. I gave them some of what they needed and they still just kept on being old boats. So instead every time I wanted to upgrade or really fix something I did it as cheap as possible and put the rest of what I was going to spend (which is always more than you think it will be) in the "sailing fund".

The newer boats are SO much nicer.

Just do what it takes to get it on the water, and enjoy the heck out of it. If you want a boat that looks good, just pick a jar and start throwing money into it every time you think you want to spend countless hours and more hundreds of dollars than you are guessing fixing the old stuff..

And seriously... This advice is brought to you by the cheapest of skates.. My daily work vehicle is a 1990 Dodge Caravan. I am sitting at a table I saved from the trash..

Believe me.. Save for the newer boat..

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www.thehobiewayoflife.com

Has anyone tried this for repairing corroded aluminum:

Loctite's "BONDERITE M-CR 1132 CHROMATE COATING PENS"

(Known as Alodine 1132 Touch-N-Prep Light Metals Conversion Coating)

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Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

Do not paint either your aluminum or your hulls. Not intending to offend here, but the boat was intended for the hulls to be gel coat and the aluminum either bare or anodized, which is another acidic passivation technique. The alodine pens are for small touch-ups and you don't want to do more than about a 4x4 area with them. Make sure you are wearing personal protective equipment when using any chemical conversion coating.
I say forget the whole idea and plug the holes and go sailing. Put a "At least its paid for" sticker on it and get out there. I guarantee that as you are blasting along in a 16 knot breeze and punching through waves and pitch poling the baby, you are not going to be looking down at the boat and saying,"geeze, I sure wish it was prettier". Just my two cents. Breeze on.

^^^ + a million

There are a bunch of restoration stories on this forum of people who took old boats, put thousands of dollars and hundreds of man-hours into them, only to have the boats break (fatally) the first time they took them sailing. We tried to tell them . . .

Save your money - get it working and safe and sail it until it breaks.