Alumacraft 14 Build

[enielsen]

Ok, so this weekend my dad gave me his boat and he said he didn't want any money for it. I couldn't believe it! It came with an old johnson 4.6 that runs on the first pull and has great compression. the boat came with a great trailer, gas tank, trolling motor, two chairs, and rod holders. Pretty cool. Anyways, I was gonna make it a duck hunting boat but I want a flatter and wider boat for that. This one I want to make a bass boat setup with. Basically a front deck and rear deck with storage.. But I have never done this before, so I am gonna need some serious help. I will have tons of questions. But I took everyone off the boat today and cleaned her up a bit...Planning on painting tomorrow.

 

[enielsen]

It came with a cover too!

 

[enielsen]

 

[enielsen]

I also bought half inch treated plywood, 2x2s, treated 2x4s. I am hoping that was what I needed to buy to make the decks?!?!? I am wanting to paint it a darker grey with a red trim line so that it will match my f150 fx4. I want to trailer black. What kind of primer do I buy, what kind of paint, how much should I buy of each color, how many coats? I told you I was a newby! The trim line is actually the rail that sticks out about where the water line would be on the outside. I want to paint the interior the same color as exterior, if not darker grey.

 

[enielsen]

this is kinda what I want.

 

[mmf]

Do not use treated wood in an aluminum boat. Either buy marine grade or exterior grade plywood and seal it with marine spar varnish or fiberglass resin. The treated wood has chemicals that will leach out of the wood and attack the aluminum in your boat causing severe corrosion to take place, also make sure to use only stainless steel fasteners too. Good luck with your project! Nice looking boat too!

 

[enielsen]

So I should take back the treated wood and get the other stuff? Should I get untreated 2x4s as well?

 

[redrunner]

I would take back all the treated stuff and get cedar. This will still give you the benefit of better contact with weather and wet better than just pine. If you use pine get a good sealer for it and remember to reseal is during the off season every few years.

 

[hueydr]

Nice hull to start with. Yes. Take back ALL of the treated lumber. Treated lumber and tinboats don't mix. I will be watching to see (read steal) your ideas. Good luck!

 

[enielsen]

Ok, what kind of paint do I buy? I want a shiny look. Also, do I need to do any sanding because the hull is smooth and there was never any paint on it.

Self etching primer right?

 

[hueydr]

If it was never painted all it needs is a good cleaning and yes, the self etching primer. I defer to the forum on type of paint. Do a site search and you will be amazed at the number of cleaning and paint recommendations you will find.

 

[enielsen]

Ok so I decided on a glossy black boat with red trim. I will be priming tonight

 

[enielsen]

Painted the trailer black....nothing special, but looks better than before.

And I primed. I rolled the first coat on and then went over it again with a brush. I hope that will be ok. I cleaned the boat with cleaner, but I am not sure if I got everything squeaky clean. We will see I guess.

 

[enielsen]

When I used the brush for the primer, it didn't look as smooth as wel I used the roller, but the primer didn't run when I used the brush. When I paint the boat, should I use the roller in the places I can, or should I use the brush? Or should I take the paint back and get spray cans?

 

[enielsen]

Anyone?

 

[Jonboat Jerry]

I prefer to use a roller because all the paint goes on the boat, and get the tight spots with a brush.
Been using a 4" roller on mine with good results. If the ribs were spaced further apart, a 6" roller would work.
Just have to watch for excess paint leaving tracks on the edge of the roller because I loaded it to much in the tray.
That's what the ramp is for to squeegee off the roller.
Just take your time and check other owners builds for their ideas. There is a lot of excellent information here.

 

[enielsen]

Good stuff, I will actually cut my 10 inch in half and use that. I just hope I got that boat clean enough before I primed. I also have decided to paint the bottom portion aluminum and then the top portion black with a red stripe. We will see how that goes. I am terrified to mess this up, I dunno why, but I am.

I have just never seen a black bottomed alumacraft and I think it would look dumb and cheap.

 

[Jonboat Jerry]

Don't worry about it, it's just paint. If you don't like what you see, then wait until it dries
and paint over it. If you get a run, sand it out and paint it again.
Here is my boat that I just finished painting this morning.

 

[enielsen]

that looks sweet man. if i do get run, will i need to reprime that spot after sanding?

 

[enielsen]

So I put on my aluminum paint...GROSS! It looks like it is silver! I thought it would look like new aluminum. I must be a dumba**. When I put the primer on, I did it with a brush and it left brush strokes and so now you can see brush strokes as texture. I think I wanna just start completely over. Do I need to sand the whole boat back to it's aluminum if I want to have the aluminum look? The thing that sucks is that I saw pictures of other people's boats that they had painted aluminum and it looked shiny and actually like metal! not silver! I'm about to take this thing to maaco or something and have them paint it. I don't think I'm very good at it.
Could I just paint white over the aluminum color? Or is sanding and removing everything my only option. I didn't use self-etching primer. I used the rustoleum stuff that is for aluminum. I just want that shiny factory look like the lund boats on the lund website...an actually nice paint job, not silver crap.