Introduction and first questions

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CPM

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I’ve just joined your forum and want to introduce myself. I hope you’ll all be patient with me.
I only have very new experience with boat ownership and maintenance.
At my young son’s prompting, I purchased a used Jon boat so we could take up fishing on our local lakes to keep us occupied during this quasi zombie apocalypse.
Unfortunately, we know just as little about fishing as boat restoration. But that’s an issue for later.

Right now, I want to get our circa 1975 1548 Lowe aluminum boat ship-shape.
It will be used only with an electric trolling motor in fresh water and trailer kept.

So, bear with me while I describe the project so far and my plans.

So far, I’ve removed the add-on decking and supports, have it 95% stripped to bare aluminum (except for around rivets and inaccessible crevasses), inspected rivets for leaking (no leaks) and have filled the several holes drilled for accessories above the water line.
I overfilled with JB weld and will grind smooth.

The next steps I want to take are pounding out some dents (one is kind of major, almost a crease), priming and painting.

I plan on using marine epoxy primer then maybe a high build primer (that’s what the car guys do at least), top coat with marine grade coating or automotive paint.
I’ve chosen the epoxy rather than the self-etch because I seem to understand that it’s more durable and that the self-etch may lift some of the remaining paint left on the boat.

I now know there are several topcoats specifically made for aluminum boats but I want more color choice.
I’m looking at Awlgrip because of their wide color selection.
I’m also looking at Steelflex. They have several color choices other than the traditional drab colors.
I can’t tell if the Steelflex is a coating similar to truck bed liner though. I definitely don’t want that.

Here come the questions.
Is the high build primer over the epoxy primer something just car guys care about for the nicer automotive finish?
If that’s the case, I don’t think it’ll be necessary for this 45 yr. old nag would it?

Since the boat won’t live in the water but a few hours at a time, am I correct that I don’t need an actual “bottom paint”? If that’s correct, couldn’t I just use a “topside paint”?
I’m not worried about bottom fouling obviously.
How well would that hold up to typical fresh water use and trailering. Would my bunk boards rub it off?

From what I can tell, traditional bottom paints come in two flavors:
“Hard Bottom” paint = copper and shouldn’t be used on trailered boats.
“Ablative Bottom” paint = recommended for boats hauled from the water.
Both seem to be used only by those concerned about bottom fouling though.
 
I forgot to mention that I intend to shoot whatever material I use with a cup gun.
 
I used single stage car paint, which ended up being not single stage after I decided to clear it.

I did not remove the old paint, and used epoxy primer. Zinc chromate is recommended for bare aluminum.

Here are the before and afters. http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/66907-turd-polishing/

I ordered all the paint from this guy on Ebay, he has single stage kits and just about anything you could need. It took right at 2 quarts to do mine.

https://www.ebay.com/usr/steelman49596?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
 

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