theydrewa31
Regular Contributor
Hello all,
Working on a riveted aluminum hull Starcraft Islander. I am halfway through a full restoration.
I plan on painting the boat, should I paint it before I put it in the water for the first time for leak test? Or should I leak test it then paint it? I am having some welding done, so there will be some bare metal. Should that get covered with some type of paint before the wet test? I wanted to paint the entire hull with 2K prime, 2K automotive paint, and 2K clear, but I want to do the whole boat at the same time so I was curious if there is a temporary coating for aluminum in marine environments that I should be using?
My logic tells me that I want to leak test it now before I paint so that if I need to buck any rivets I find out right away. If I paint it first I feel like the paint might provide a temporary seal for the seams and leave me with a leak that I don't find out about until after I have installed the new deck wood.
Not that it matters but the test would be on fresh water.
Working on a riveted aluminum hull Starcraft Islander. I am halfway through a full restoration.
I plan on painting the boat, should I paint it before I put it in the water for the first time for leak test? Or should I leak test it then paint it? I am having some welding done, so there will be some bare metal. Should that get covered with some type of paint before the wet test? I wanted to paint the entire hull with 2K prime, 2K automotive paint, and 2K clear, but I want to do the whole boat at the same time so I was curious if there is a temporary coating for aluminum in marine environments that I should be using?
My logic tells me that I want to leak test it now before I paint so that if I need to buck any rivets I find out right away. If I paint it first I feel like the paint might provide a temporary seal for the seams and leave me with a leak that I don't find out about until after I have installed the new deck wood.
Not that it matters but the test would be on fresh water.