Repainting black window frames

The anodized aluminum window frames on our 440 have become dull over the years, so I'm in the process of repainting them. When I started sanding, I encountered a clear coat of some sort over the anodized metal. That's what was deteriorating and giving the cloudy, chalky appearance. Comes off with a lot of elbow grease and wet sanding. I'm planning to spray them with catalyzed black satin urethane while anchored in a quiet inlet....compressor in the V-berth, hose through the forward deck hatch, power from the genset. Massive masking effort, but a whole less costly than having the bozos in the yard mess it up. I'm going to use two compact HVLP touch up guns from Harbor Freight. Very little overspray when I used them on my pick up respray. Thought about PREVAL, but it would take forever.

Any suggestions, other than don't try it...

Totally doable but doing proper prep without taking off the frames will be a challenge. Also pick a product with a quick flash time. Wind or dampness may cause issues

I did mine (all by hand, groan ) a few years back. I was advised to use an aluminum primer as a tie coat, which I did. So far, so good.

Thanks, Gents. I'm off to purchase a quart of the fastest urethane reducer I can find. I brought slow reducer left over from my truck re-spray project in the Texas heat. I'm using a drier on the paint gun/hose, but will still have to wait for a low humidity day on Lake Michigan.

I'll look into aluminum primer as well, although my concern is that the fairly aggressive catalyzed urethane finish coat might lift it. The black anodizing on the metal is still in very good shape except for a few edges where I broke through with 400 grit sand paper. Ideally I should probably prime it with hardened urethane primer, but that would mean finding two days in a row with good ambient conditions or sanding the primer (the recoat window is short). No way I will sand those frames again. Maybe just touch up the bare metal edges.

dwhatty - by hand did you mean with a brush? If so would you mind elaborating on the prep, process, and paint choice? I see this project in my future...

If it’s anodised, topcoat won’t stick to it and you’ll be in the same situation you are in today mate. You will need to use an epoxy primer first then your urethane top coat. I’d shoot on some primer with a 1.8mm top. Then I recommend a 1.2mm tip to shoot on the topcoats. Thin the first coat out to 30% then once it’s flashed thin the second coat out to 40% so it’s burns in to a flow coat finish with minimal op.

You can shoot the primer and topcoats wet on wet. They will chemically bond and you can avoid the two day scenario you mentioned. Just keep an eye on the flash times

Perhaps consider airbrush application, a little more time consuming but much less over spray plus more ability to fine tune.

Don't forget an air dryer for the guns. The compressor will push moister through to the spray guns and make a mess.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KSTEZ...0aea54dfb4b1a57f3127193a1ae849&language=en_US

Sounds like you already started, but if not, here is a write up on the process that Diamond Seaglaze recommends. It comes from the Southeast Nordic Tug Owners Association: https://www.sentoa.org/maintenance_tips/dsg_door_repainting.html

Several other interesting project write-ups on the site, as well (most of which are applicable beyond Nordic Tugs). Good luck!

Sorry, meant to actually post this link, which is specific to anodized windows (though the other one also has good information for refinishing aluminum): https://www.sentoa.org/maintenance_tips/window_painting.html

I just got back from the paint store (45 miles away) where the "expert" said I should use etching primer on the black anodized frames, and then apply the finish coat of urethane. When I got back to the boat I was reading the instructions on the can and it specifically says don't apply color over the (SEM) self etching primer. So much for the paint store expert, I guess.

So, I think I'll go with Hendo78's epoxy primer/urethane top coat procedure. I've had good results with epoxy base coat (with a middle layer of urethane primer for sanding purposes) on a couple of vehicles. I'm still screwing around with making masking cutouts for the window panes, etc, so I can wait for an Amazon delivery for the epoxy. Supposed to rain the next few days anyway. By the way the tight confines around the windows forced me to buy very compact touch-up spray guns (throw aways). One has a 0.8 tip and the other a 0.6. There will be some serious thinning going on.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Saved me from a major mistake of shooting color directly on the anodized surface.

Follow up: The manufacturer of the urethane top coat (Eastwood) says their urethane top coat will be compatible with a properly cured etch primer. So that's the route I'm going to take as it's simplest....the etch primer comes in a rattle can. Should be able to apply the primer and top coat in a single morning including specified drying times.

Some years back, previous boat, I sanded anodized alum. frames and used a brush to apply single pack epoxy (that`s what the can said it was) as a primer. Followed by a silver gloss single pack epoxy. Primer was difficult to get smooth, I think I sanded and maybe recoated it before the top coats. It was a good result.

I just tested a small section with the SEM etching primer. Three thin coats, five minutes between. Goes on perfectly (nice spray nozzle on the can), lays down perfectly flat. If the urethane sticks it should be a very nice finish. The masking panels for the glass are cut. Waiting on a couple of low humidity days to mask it and then head for an anchorage. The photos show in-process wet sanding on the frames. The white smeary stuff is the clear coat coming off during the wet sanding. I started with Scotchbrite, then tried 400 grit wet sandpaper, and settled on 320 wet sand paper. It comes off fairly easily with 320 and there are no visible scratches in the frames. I'll have to do a two stage masking arrangement to first spray the metal frames (and not the surrounding fiberglass), then peel off the masking over the fiberglass areas for the final spray with urethane.

Finished. Three days of sanding, three days of masking. Primed and painted this morning while at anchor on a small lake off Lake Michigan. cleanup this afternoon. Temperature was in the low 50s last night, so no bugs. Massive condensation on the boat, however. Took about an hour for the surfaces to dry once the sun came up. Light breeze, but no overspray problems with Harbor Freight touch up gun. Used a small pancake compressor rated at 4.0 cfm @ 40 psi. Genset carried it no problem. Worth the effort, but it's a killer job. Anyway, it turned out quite nice....certainly light years better than where it started. I did a two stage masking job, so that only the aluminum was hit with etch primer. Then pulled off that top layer of masking to expose the entire surface including fiberglass structure (cleaned off tape adhesive residue). The catalyzed urethane seems to be sticking just fine but will know for sure after a little time. A few in-process photos...

It looks beautiful. Let us know how well it holds up.

Looks great.

Wow great job!

Looks like a professional paint job.

Eastwood sells great products. For autos. Never thought about using their products on the boat.

Great tip!

I have one of their home powder coating kits. I should try powder coating small items on Sandpiper.

syjos said:

Wow great job!

Eastwood sells great products. For autos. Never thought about using their products on the boat.

Click to expand...

As I mentioned, I just used Eastwood's Hot Rod (satin) black on my street rod pickup. Since I never cared for the more reflective gloss trim paint on the boat, it seemed a good fit. Didn't see any low gloss paint in the Interlux site, so thought I'd give Eastwood a try. The important thing is that it's catalyzed like the marine products, so it's formulated to withstand the high UV environment. I will say that black satin is not easy to get a consistent sheen, even with a big gun. The cheap little gun from Harbor Freight didn't help. It's not as even as I'd like in that regard. Also, if there's a screw up, a repair will not blend well, so the panel would need to be repainted to get it to blend perfectly. Not much of an issue with these thin trim pieces. One last pointer on these satin paints...they can't be buffed, and they shouldn't be waxed, as it messes with the reflective quality. So wash it and forget it. Works for me...

Looks like a professional job. Time will tell but the great thing is at this point you have it down. So if you have to go back to the drawing board (lets hope not) your ready to tackle it. Lots of these boats with black accents need the same job. I am sure you'll get asked.

Successful boat project, beer time!

Well done mate. Looks the business!

Looks great! Nice Job. I have similar doors on my Nordic Tug that need updating. I will follow your lead.

Why not just clear coat?

Since your complaint was solely the dulling of the black frames, why not sand with 2000-grit and apply clear coat? You can shine clear coat to a fare-thee-well with a foam pad and 3M Perfect-It to look like a new car. I just watched it being done to an area of my hull which had to be repainted and then clear coated due to a faulty earlier (pre-me) repair. The stbd bow from rub rail to waterline from the cutwater back a foot was just redone that way.

Here it is, and if you can see any evidence of repainting, you have far better eyes than anybody I know.

rgano said:

Since your complaint was solely the dulling of the black frames, why not sand with 2000-grit and apply clear coat? You can shine clear coat to a fare-thee-well with a foam pad and 3M Perfect-It to look like a new car. I just watched it being done to an area of my hull which had to be repainted and then clear coated due to a faulty earlier (pre-me) repair. The stbd bow from rub rail to waterline from the cutwater back a foot was just redone that way.

Click to expand...

As I explained in the original post, the problem with the frames was a deteriorating high gloss clear coat applied by the factory. That's the last thing I wanted to put back on. I also explained that I wanted a satin finish around the windows and in black accent areas. I do not like high gloss black for those applications. My comment about no buff and no waxing of satin finishes was simply an admonition to keep folks from ruining the low gloss characteristic of the paint if they elected to use it.

If someone wanted to go the clear coat route, aluminum frames would still have to be sanded, etched, and painted with a catalyzed clear coat (for UV protection). Your boat looks nice...hope it's a UV protected product.

Here's a better photo of the completed job....high gloss black (which was the original factory scheme) was not pleasing to my eye even when it was in good condition.

My clear coated boat is 14-15 years old, and that is the majority of what you could see in the photo. The newest part of it is what Emerald Coast Yacht Refinishing uses and is highly UV resistant. I understand the desire to have a satin finish over the black frames - looks good. I was thinking that if I had framing that was black with no corrosion or flaking issues that I could have a new clear coat overlaid on a lightly prepped coating and then "satinize" the resulting gloss with a light going over with a 2-3000-grit medium.

rgano said:

My clear coated boat is 14-15 years old, and that is the majority of what you could see in the photo. The newest part of it is what Emerald Coast Yacht Refinishing uses and is highly UV resistant. I understand the desire to have a satin finish over the black frames - looks good. I was thinking that if I had framing that was black with no corrosion or flaking issues that I could have a new clear coat overlaid on a lightly prepped coating and then "satinize" the resulting gloss with a light going over with a 2-3000-grit medium.

Click to expand...

I've looked at a lot of boats in the marina and other than our OA, haven't found another with what appears to be a factory clear coat on aluminum frames. They all look to be bare anodized aluminum. If the frames are bare anodized aluminum, they need a tie coat before top coat. If a tie coat is applied, might as well use the finish coat you want in the first place.

Applying a new clear coat over an old clear coat in good condition and sanding in an attempt to make it look like satin just adds a step....and you'd never get it as even as spraying on a satin finish to begin with. Clear coat obviously works well over painted hull surfaces. I used base/clear on my Jaguar...

End of boating season follow-up report. The boat just went into the winter storage building (Great Lakes). With one minor exception the hardened urethane paint is still firmly stuck to the window frames. The exception is a small aluminum filler piece that fits in a gap at the interface for a sliding window in the salon. I had run out of etch primer when I was ready to spray that item, so went ahead and shot the urethane direct to the unetched, but sanded and anodized strip. Sure enough the paint lifted on that piece, thereby confirming that the etch primer is an essential step. Next summer, I'll fix that item and spray the black stripes on the sides, which include the small windows in the aft cabin.

Rufus said:

End of boating season follow-up report. The boat just went into the winter storage building (Great Lakes). With one minor exception the hardened urethane paint is still firmly stuck to the window frames. The exception is a small aluminum filler piece that fits in a gap at the interface for a sliding window in the salon. I had run out of etch primer when I was ready to spray that item, so went ahead and shot the urethane direct to the unetched, but sanded and anodized strip. Sure enough the paint lifted on that piece, thereby confirming that the etch primer is an essential step. Next summer, I'll fix that item and spray the black stripes on the sides, which include the small windows in the aft cabin.

View attachment 93866

View attachment 93867

Click to expand...

Looks beautiful! I need to address my black stripe/engine room intake and windows as well in the next year or so. If you ever decide to take a vacation to the Seattle area and have a few days ....

Looks very nice, but why is the boat in the barn so early???