paint guru's

im gonna tear down and restore my 69 johnson 3hp when winter hits us full bore.

im having trouble finding the factory paint or even just a paint code. i'd like to spray everything so im trying to steer clear of rattle cans.

anybody got any secrete websights i can find/get this paint from? any advice on the types of paint and clearcoat?

i can do the job, just not the technical part of it :roll:

danmyers on here gave me this website - https://www.hannaysmarine.com/2009hannayscatalog/pg_00472.html


For the motor part itself, sand it down, wipe with acetone to get all the grease off, then go over it with Zinc Chromate primer, then use whatever paint matches your motor/year or any other color...

I think the rattle cans do a really good job man, you can't tell a difference and I've seen a lot of guys do them on other websites

thanks abunch!

any info on why the "zinc chromate primer" ? ill def. take yalls world for it just wondering what the difference is

it's like a self-etching primer... and it holds up to everything you can dish out to it.

I primed my last boat with it, and the better the bottom coat, the better the top

sounds good man thanks alot

Back in the 1940s as well as in the paint industry of today, the term Zinc Chromate does not refer to a paint color, but rather a protective coating.

Zinc Chromate is a corrosion resistant agent that is added to certain coatings. Even today, chromate finishes including Zinc Chromate provide superior corrosion resistance. Additionally, Zinc Chromate is highly toxic thus protecting the surface from proliferation of organic matter.

In the aircraft industry of the 1940s, Zinc Chromate was used as an anti-corrosive barrier primer; it could be described as a sort of painted-on galvanizing. It has been developed by Ford Motor Company by the late 1920s, subsequently adopted in commercial aviation and later by the US Military. Official USAAC notes mention successful application of Zinc Chromate primer starting from 1933, but it has not been adopted as standard until 1936.

Because Zinc Chromate is all about corrosion protection, the precise coloring of it is and has not been considered as important as the chemical composition. In the official notes of the period, the name Zinc Chromate is often accompanied by the name of particular manufacturer, thus mentioning Ford Zinc Chromate, DuPont Zinc Chromate or Berry Brothers Zinc Chromate. This means that the actual color of Zinc Chromate coating may have varied from batch to batch or manufacturer to manufacturer without it being viewed as an issue.

The 'native' tone of zinc chromate crystalline salt is a bright greenish-yellow. When put into a vehicle with binders to make paint, this color would be the raw result.

Such raw Zinc Chromate primer would also give a semi-translucent coating, not very opaque like a pigmented paint or lacquer. This property becomes especially interesting when we consider that aircraft factory instructions often called for just one protective coat of primer. As a consequence, the color of the underlying surface might have a significant effect on the final appearance. For example, raw Zinc Chromate applied on the white background would look yellow, while applied to bare metal aluminum it would look more like apple green.

Similarly, any pigment might be added to the raw paint mixture to go with the Zinc Chromate, thereby modifying the color. Some of today's mixtures use iron oxide -- giving that rusty red appearance you can often see on prefabricated steel beams in highway and building construction.

So what does all this mean? Perhaps no more than there hasn't ever been any specification in the industry for a Zinc Chromate color. This in turn caused alternative designations to pop up in the literature that attempted to describe the color value of the Zinc Chromate finish - Zinc Chromate Yellow and Zinc Chromate Green being the prime examples

cubanredneck said:

Similarly, any pigment might be added to the raw paint mixture to go with the Zinc Chromate, thereby modifying the color. Some of today's mixtures use iron oxide -- giving that rusty red appearance you can often see on prefabricated steel beams in highway and building construction.

Click to expand...

You said iron oxide (Fe2O3 I assume, due to its red color)... I have about 2 pounds of that stuff laying around for thermite and a catalyst in rocket motors. How much do you add to the primer, and is there any special prep work for the boat before you apply it? How do you reccommend application? ie: spray or brush/roller

And, is it really worth the money to get this type of primer?

more then likley the shop that is going to sell you the paint has a optical color gun thingy. if not a local body shop should be able to do it too. its basically a little handheld machine that you point at the paint you want to match and it spits out a paint code for you.

excellent post thanks for the read

Zinc Chromate was the primer for aluminum used by the US Navy way before I joined and also while I was active duty. Probably still used by them today too. Good stuff!

Not trying to steal or pirate this thread but the title directed to "Paint Guru's" is probably read by the Guru's. How hard is it to paint an outboard? I have a 6hp Johnson and a 6hp Evinrude that both could use some paint. I have checked thru the motors post and there is not a ton of info regarding this project. Big job or not? Any secrets?

I've heard that spray paint is decent.