Need to Paint window frames ,door frames -need advice

[bradvo]

I hope I am in the right place for this question. I have seen this from time to time on the BOC site and now it looks with this boat I am going to need to do some window and door detailing.
My paint has the common blistering going on around certain areas of my frames. i was thinking of getting the dremel tool out and removing the rougher areas and then applying a base coat ( need advice what to use) then re paint. I had done some small corrosion / rust repair in my engine room and used some of the shelf products that are out there today. These might work on the aluminum, guess I will have to do the right thing and read label first. But if anyone has done this type of detailing please chime in. I know on the boc site there was a guy named Richard Hatch who owned a 39 that left a fairly detailed post on how he did his but I never could fine it and now with the hacking it is gone.
I am a fan of rust oleum brand paint and was going to try this first- it is inexpensive and holds up well, although i have not tried it in a Marine application I had years ago when I was in my 20's painted a 8 foot camper with it and it held well to the Aluminum and had a great gloss finish.
Brad

I think it was "Steve" Hatch :D

Richard Hatch was the gay guy who won Survivor... :P

Have you given any thought to stripping the paint off with Jabsco stripper?

You wouldn't get any scratches in the aluminum that way and you could work in very small areas at a time. Just tape off the surrounding area and work in very small quantities. It'll peel the paint in one layer at a time and doesn't affect fiberglass. I'm using it by the gallon on this old Carver.

[bradvo]

I had not thought of using the stripper, I do have some left from when i removed the painted on name that was on the 39 when I bought it. The dremel just seemed like less elbow work-I will give a try on a small section and check it out. More then likely a project I will wait until end of month before starting , but will try and get everything in order now.
I believe your right on the first name of Hatch
Brad

Yeah... I'm a renewed believer in chemical stripper.

I just painted my house and since I was more excited about playing with my new sprayer than I was masking I got quite a of overspray in places it shouldn't be.

The cool thing was, I just brushed on just enough stripper to get the stuff to wrinkle... and then washed it off. I wet everything else down first so the "flushing" stripper didn't bother anything and it worked great.

[Randygh]

Brad--I repainted the aluminum window frames on my Carver last fall. The frames were orginally painted or powder coated. There was no blistering or peeling of the finish but it was very thin and oxidized. In some areas the finish was down to bare Al. I cleaned the frames with 00 steel wool and lacquer thinner. I didn't strip down to bare metal unless the finish was gone. I masked and primed with several coats of spray-on zinc chromate and finished with "industrial" formula Rust-oleum black gloss. Four finish coats and the frames look great. I store my boat at home under cover so sunlight isn't a problem for fading. I waxed the paint several weeks ago. The hardest part of the project was masking. I used a product that has the tape attached to the edge of a roll of thin plastic film. It worked great, much better than masking tape and paper.

[bradvo]

Randy, thanks- I may have some of the chemicals you mentioned for primer left over on engine room work. Also for the positive comment on the Rust Oleum paint.
I take the special masking tape can be bought a Lowes? I know I am going to really have to be careful not to get on and finish fiberglass work on bridge wind screen - I have a detailer working on the brow of our boat now giving it a good polish and wax and no way am I going to make it out on this brow to do any clean up work. The detailer has already fallen once. He said he was not even going up there again, said he was going to duct tape his buffer to a pole.
So I will be making sure no mess gets on glass work, maybe also tape some towells around work area, or see how easy it is to remove altogether. I think the wind screen will be the only area that I have chance of making a mess.
Brad

[Randygh]

The nice thing about the masking film is that it unfolds from the adhesive edge and extends several feet away from the adhesive edge. I taped some tarps to the plastic film so my cabin, deck and hardtop were entirely covered. I purchased the masking film at Ace hardware, but I'm sure Lowe's or Home Depot would have the stuff. If you're spraying Zn chromate, be sure to use a spray mask.

[chuck4788]

I would mask the edges with a fine line non-bleding tape, then apply the masking film. The fine line is easier to apply accuratly because you won't be fussing with a 2 foot wide film, also the fine line tape provides a better edge than regular tape. Check out 3Ms web site, they have some great info on masking tapes. Lowes and Home Depot carry most of the 3M stuff or go to an automotive paint supply store. If you are using masking to provide a cut edge, don't let the paint dry on the masking. Pull the masking before the paint sets. If you let the paint set before pulling the masking you will have a raised edge.
I have some paint blistering on my window frames but haven't removed the paint to check how they preped. I know of one Bayliner owner who had his windows redone twice, by Bayliner.

I suspect that one of the reasons for the corrosion is that the manufacturer didn't properly prep the aluminum before painting. The aircraft bizz has a lot of experience preping and painting aluminum, finding good info may be little tough, try auto paint supply shops for starters. They can also mix small quanties of paint and put them into spay cans.