Pedestal Painting

[jorgefife]

Greetings to all of you!
I have the ugliest binacle pedestal around!
But I want to change that, by giving it a coat of paint
Need some advice on this: first, of course, I need to sand it down
Do I then put a primer first, and then a top coat?
What paint should I use?
Spray from the can, or use a brush?
Can you recommend the actual name?
It is covered with a sunbrella cover at all times, so it does not get exposed to the sun, but what do you suggest?
Thank you

 

[Nelsonhow]

I did mine about 3 years ago without removing it. I sanded it down with my orbital sander as much as possible and sprayed it with white Rustolium aluminum paint. After 3 years still looks great. I've had great luck with Rustolium products on my boat. Haven't had a failure yet. Easy to apply and can't beat the price.

 

[rardiH36]

I did mine about 3 years ago without removing it. I sanded it down with my orbital sander as much as possible and sprayed it with white Rustolium aluminum paint. After 3 years still looks great. I've had great luck with Rustolium products on my boat. Haven't had a failure yet. Easy to apply and can't beat the price.

Hi Jorge:

Yes, the Rustoleum products are good. Particularly in the situation you have when the finish will be protected from the sun most of the time. Will last for years.

Rustoleum also makes a product called Hammered finish which is zlyene based and very durable. They claim doesn't need a primer on metal. I've recently seen it in spray cans in white. It would have Hammered/metalic finish. The Hammered texture hides a lot of imperfections. I would certainly try on something else to experiment before you decide how it would look on the pedestal. Also you might try to ask Rustoleum's customer support for confirmation that it will work on un-primed aluminum casting.

Here's a couple of pic of my pedestal/binacle. The shift and compass housing is brush painted with the Hammered product (a mix of green, silver and a touch of gold).

The base/cylinder sections of my pedestal had scratches down into the aluminum when I bought the boat ... but not too many. Otherwise the (original) paint was in very good shape. I just carefully touched up the scratches with the same white paint (Interlux Perfection) that I used for my repaint of the cabin top. The color was a good match and I don't even notice.

The flat white cast aluminum piece that connects the pedestal to the guard rail was in very bad cosmetic condition. So this also was repainted with Interlux Perfection. But I did use an epoxy primer on this first. So far its been staying nice looking.

Have fun!

 

[jorgefife]

Dear Nelson & Hardi

Thank you very much for your help: Rustoleum, Hammered will be
I will sand first and then spray; I suppose a couple of coates?
Will take photos first to show you I was not lying when I said it was the ugliest
More details, please on the colour mix for the compass?
It looks awesome! Did you get 3 paints and mixed it, or does it come like that in the can?

 

[rardiH36]

Jorge:

It was a custom mix of Hammerite colors. I had silver from other projects. To get my outcome, I bought a can of Hammered green. I knew the green was too dark for my envisioned result, so I first mixed it with the silver to tone it down and get a more "mist" green. On the first coat test area, it still seemed a little too dark green and it seemed to have a blueish hue to it for my liking anyway. So finally, I put it more silver to lighten further and also a touch of Hammerite gold (which I also had on hand from another project) which took care of the blue. Each can of the (Hammerite) stuff runs about $12-15 depending where purchased. So if you don't have the colors on hand, duplicating my color would get pretty expensive! As to maybe mixing standard enamels (say you had some green Rustoleum on hand), the chemistry is different and I would expect that the non-metallic component might make the end result non-metallic.

rardi

 

[guidera48]

I just painted my pedestal this week end before I read this thread. I used automotive primer to prep the surfaces and wet sanded to clean all the dings on the old paint. I used a can of white apliance epoxy paint. Under $5.00. I got 3 good coats out of it. It's so white now that you almost need sunglasses. The deck work continues.

 

[rardiH36]

... I used a can of white appliance epoxy paint...

Good point! White epoxy appliance paint is another proven product on my boat. In the attached pic, on the far side of the cockpit, part of the engine instrument panel can be seen. Underneath the epoxy appliance white is UV deteriorated 1980 original black plastic. When the picture was taken, the sprayed appliance epoxy paint is about 3 years on. Still shiny and hasn't yellowed one bit. And it catches the full afternoon sun everyday.

 

[jorgefife]

rardi,
Please explain to me what you mean by the black plastic and the paint:
are you saying that where you painted white it still is nice after 3 years?

 

[rardiH36]

Jorge:

In the picture that I included with my last post (on May 9), on the opposite side of the cockpit, you should be able to see the tachometer. It is mounted on the standard Yanmar instrument panel. Originally black plastic of some sort. It had become faded and oxidized. Now the plastic is sprayed white with appliance epoxy paint just out of a spray can. I know that you can't see it in any detail, but yes it still looks good after three years of afternoon direct sun exposure.

 

[Roger Long]

I've had great luck with Rustolium products on my boat.

So have I. I sprayed my pedestal in 2006 and it's finally due again only because of places where it got chipped to bare aluminum and some flaking around the base/tube joint where corrosion got in under the edge through the joint.

It was a quick and dirty job at the time when I was in a hurry and money was tight and has far outlasted my expectations.

 

[jorgefife]

Rardi and Roger,
Thank you both; your help is much appreciated!
I am in the business of doors ( where I stain and varnish, but using a brush, I am old school but I do a good job)
Do you think I should use a spray can of Rustoleum, or is it better using a brush?
I am talking about the pedestal, all the way to the top
I will try post a picture of what mine looks like, as I said, ugliest in Houston

 

[rardiH36]

jorge:

Spray it, definitely. Undoubtedly you know but just in case because you are primarily a brush man, spray canning on vertical and curved surfaces can be tricky, which leads to building up too thick and then runs. Even after hundreds and hundreds of DIY spray can projects since I was making models as a kid in the 60's, I still botch-up because for each project, the surface and paint and temperature is different. In general, do several coats to gradually build up. Keep the can a distance away from the pedestal, always trying to keep the distance the same as you move around. Start the spray after you start moving the can. Or better yet start the spray even before it goes on the surface. Particularly at first until you can judge how its going. Also most spray can nozzles these days have an small rotating insert. So that instead of the spray emerging in a non focused circular shape, the spray pattern comes out in a more straight fan shape. The insert is rotated depending on the orientation of the surface, the orientation of the can and the direction of movement. I am sure that you can find on line all sorts of tips for getting a good result from a spray can.

Last week I saw/bought a spray primer product that I hadn't noticed before. Made by after market auto touch up paint company Dupli-color, its a self etching metal primer that is supposed to be superior on bare metal including aluminum.

"Dupli-Color® Self-Etching Primer etches and primes bare metal in one step, making it ideal to use as the first step in all automotive priming projects and for use on spot repairs. A high-quality formulation allows for maximum adhesion under all types of automotive finishes on plastics, fiberglass, bare steel, aluminum and stainless steel surfaces."

 

[Blaise]

I removed the pedistal from Midnight Sun, had it bead blasted, sprayed it with epoxy primer, then with algrip. It looked good until I replaced it 11 years later. I sprayed both the primer and the algrip out of my airless sprayer. Make sure you use a resperator when spraying algrip.

 

[jorgefife]

Dear Rardi,
Where did you find the Dupli-colorSelf-Etching Primer?
Sounds interesting!
So much to chose from...