Aluminum Frames restoration project.

[Turtlesboat]

Ok, I'm going to document the restoration of my aluminum frames in the cockpit. I have a total of 5 frames that need to be re-powdercoated. I was going to do this myself with FrankW's notes, but found a place that would do it for less than I could do it myself. We'll see.

I removed the frames from the boat carefully as they are aluminum and easy to tweak if you aren't careful. I removed the doors and the rubber gaskets from the frames. Frank suggested I take a small piece of wood and screw them to the frame split so they won't wobble around and bend, but I couldn't find any wood in my apt that would work so I used some duck tape to tape the ends together.

In these shots you can see the paint bubbling off the aluminum from the improper bedding of the SS screws from the door.

tape the ends together so they won't wobble and bend

chunk fell off so i'll give this to the paint dude so he can match the color.

A couple weren't bad but for consistency sake, i'm redoing all of them.

I'll drop these off to the sand blasting place and have the old paint blasted off. Then I'll drop them off at the powder coating place and have them painted.

I'll update with pics during each stage.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Mike,

It looks like the metal has corroded and pitted. After blasting the pits should be very obvious. What is the powder coat contractor going to do to fill them in?

Henry

 

[Dave S]

Mike

Out of curiousity, you said you have five frames. I don't own a 280DA so I am not sure where your five frames are located on the 280DA except for the front hatch. :smt017 They really look bad too. Do you know why they are so bad?

Dave

 

[Turtlesboat]

From what I can tell, the frames aren't pitted. It looks like a primer underneath the paint and it's just chunks missing from the primer. I'll know after they are blasted, but i'm pretty sure the aluminum is ok after pealing the paint away. If there is any pitting, then I'll figure out what my options are.

What caused it is saltwater and SS screws not silicone'd properly from the aluminum. All of the corrosion is where the door is screwed into the frames. Basically the same thing that happens to B3's.

The 5 frames are: 1) battery selection hatch 2) under sink hatch 3) little storage hatch by the transom door 4) break panel at the helm 5) access door under the dash.

Seems to be common among my vintage boats. Not the end of the world, just one more thing to look for.

 

[tobnpr]

When you re-assemble use Tef-gel on the screw heads. It'll prevent corrosion from the dissimilar metals. Good stuff...
http://www.tef-gel.com/index.html

 

[douglee25]

Make sure you do not try to strip those frames with any sort of steel wool, stainless wire brush, etc. You want to use aluminum oxide sand paper to take down those frames. Do not soda blast either as this will make the prep portion tough. Prep with Alumiprep #33 to etch and follow up with alodine.

If those frames need to keep their dimensional tolerances (not sure how everything is assembled), I would consider painting vs. powder coating. Also, if those frames get scratched at all, the power coat will bubble. Another option that might be better than power coating is hard anodizing.

Doug

 

[RobF300]

those frames never came close to matching the boat, why not have them done in a white that will match better?

 

[Turtlesboat]

I thought mine matched pretty well. Do yours not match?

 

[sbw1]

When you re-assemble use Tef-gel on the screw heads. It'll prevent corrosion from the dissimilar metals. Good stuff...
http://www.tef-gel.com/index.html

I'd use teflon bushings plus the Tef-Gel. Without the bushing you still risk contact of the disimilar metals especially in a salt water environment but probably in fresh water as well.