Newbie

[JJRJR]

Hello All,

I just bought my first Grady White. It's a 1992 232 with twin 150 Johnson Silver Star Series outboards. She's in nice shape, hull seems very strong, no bubbles, etc. I live in South Florida and going to do a little work to her before I bring to the marina for dry storage.

My first issue is the Grady Drive. It appears that the bracket is aluminum. Below the waterline, it's painted the same color as the black bottom paint (needs repainting) but above the waterline it is white, but I can't tell if it's gel coated, or just painted? Would the Grady Drive have gel coat on it?

There salt water essentially destroyed the paint above the waterline and I wanted some ideas. Can I just get in there with a grinder and grind out all of the old paint and use bottom paint on the entire bracket? Above and below the waterline? The bracket itself is very securely fastened to the transom, so not worried about strength, I just want to get the aluminum covered for my salt water use.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

John

 

[ROBERTH]

Welcome aboard and Congrats John!

The bracket is aluminum and likely was manufactured by Springfield. The coating should be an Epoxy type paint. Very tough stuff!

I had done some touch ups to mine where it was bubbling under the surface. I used the Interlux 2000E system if I recall. You can send them an Email and request instructions for how to cover aluminum with their top coats and they will give you the details. Aluminum is very particular to exposure and coverage of a paint product.

Most bottom paints, if I recall that are made of copper should not come in contact with aluminum. Others here can clarify that for you. I think that is a major issue with electrolysis.

There are some bottom paints that are compatible with coverage over lower units and anything that has an aluminum base. I am not a bottom paint expert as I removed mine completely and trailer instead.

 

[JJRJR]

Thanks for the reply.

I actually spoke to my marina and they recommended that we pull the engines and the bracket and send the bracket out to be powder-coated, then paint if with the correct paint after that.

The bare aluminum is exposed so I want to get this taken care of ASAP before it oxidizes too much. From the looks of it, the only way to do it right is to pull the Grady Drive off the boat. New brackets are a ton of money, so I'm hoping I can salvage this one.

Thanks,

John

 

[ROBERTH]

Yeah, if going to extent to remove motors and bracket, sandblast and recoat properly is the way to go.

Mine just has a few spots that are bubbled up and easy enough to touch up. Make sure they seal it correctly once re-installed so you don't get water in the bracket, but make sure they don't seal in the bottom drain plugs as that is the only way to drain water once on land. Someone had epoxied my drain plugs when repainting the bottom and I bet there was 100 gallons of water inside once I got them out.

I have her sealed up nice now and no water in the bracket all summer!

 

[gw204]

I went through this very thing when I repowered my old Sailfish. My original plan was to remove the bracket entirely, but despite my best efforts I couldn't get the damn thing to release from the transom. So, I went with an in place refinish.

The "Gilcoat" was had only loosened from teh aluminum in a few places, but I decided to have everything you could see repainted. So, I ground down the top, back and a bit on the sides.

Took it to a shop and had the areas above the waterline primed and painted with Awlgrip.

Masked off, etched and then primed the remaining bare aluminum with Interprotect 2000E.

Mounted the new put-puts (raised them two holes from the factory setting as well).

Ran a bead of fresh 4000 UV around the top edge of the bracket and touched up the bottom paint.

I couldn't tell you how it's holding up though. Sold the boat shortly after I finished the repower.

 

[ROBERTH]

John, I found the link with more info on refinishing:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19497&p=120134&hilit=interlux+2000E#p120134

 

[JJRJR]

Awesome, awesome information guys, thanks so much. Great pictures too of your bracket. I am going to copy it and send to the powder coat guy so he can give me an estimate. I'm glad to see that if they can't get the bracket off the transom, it can be done in place. Thanks again!!! I'll let you all know how it turns out and the price. BOAT - Break Out Another Thousand. LOL.

John

 

[suzukidave]

sandblasting sounds fine but i am pretty skeptical on powdercoat below the waterline. paint is easier to maintain.

the problem with powdercoat is that when you get a scratch down to metal you get water penetration under the surrounding powdercoat and a cascade failure. it is very hard to patch this with paint since the damaging penetration often extends beyond the bared area.

 

[JJRJR]

Good point on the powder coating below the waterline. I'll discuss with the marina and maybe they can just sandblast then paint.

John