Painting Outboard Cowlings

[Trayder]

I am re-doing the paint work on my 1996 Evinrude Ocean Pro's. They are currently sun beaten and look like crap.

My ever resourceful better half procured the OEM decal package (quite a feat as i guess they were the last 2 sets in the states) and i have taken the entire cowling set top and bottoms off of the engine and they now currently sit in my garage. BTW do you guys have any idea how freaking big cowlings are? I swear they are taking up 1/4 of the space in the garage!!!

Anyhow my question?

what is the best way of going about repainting these? I am unsure what they are made of ABS?, Fiberglass? I do not know.

My plan is to strip and sand them down and then prime and paint, apply decals and then clear coat? Is this a good route?

What brand primer/ paint / clearcoat would you reccomend? I feel lost. I am planning on taking one of the cowlings with me to the local auto paint shop but i would like to have a general sense of materials before i head in so any help is appreciated

tx
jason

[warthog5]

I'd use PPG Concept on it.

[Yamtt125]

If you want the same color, don't they have the omc spray paint....i know spray painting from a can would be kinda hard since the area is big, but if you are carefull, i'm sure it would look good, then buy th omc clear coat stuff. I've done this on my dads fichts to touch up spots on the lower unit and tilt/trim motor.

[warthog5]

It will look like a spray bomb job.

The solvent's in a spray bomb dry to fast.

Take a small part with the color undisturbed to the auto body supply shop. They should have a spectrograph. They put the part under it and it will spit out a paint formula to match it.

My guy that I get Awlgrip from has a mixing machine. No factory pack's. He also has a spectrograph.

[dtmackey]

Just finished one and started another. Here's the cowl from Stricts motor that I purchased.






Prep the surface and shoot with an epoxy primer. Since this was metallic, it's a basecoat with clear over it. I use Dupont Chromabase and Nason clearcoat. This material seems to lay on nice and smooth and not require buffing.

D-

[other tom]

yeah, don't use spray paint in a can....will not result in something thats up to your standards.....

not that it pertains to your problem, but down here there is a body shop in Lauderdale that mixes an Imron color very close to the Yammie gray, and calls the mechanics in the area about once every 3 months to shoot a pile of cowlings that they have stockpiled, after which they shoot clear. I had it done to the cap off the cowlings once....perfect, and it was about $50 for the pair. I would imagine that a local Newport auto body shop can mix the same for your color in Imron, but it might be $$$ for such a small amount. Maybe they can paint your radar to match...

[Trayder]

Thanks guys-

Color is not too much of an issue as the engines are white non-metallic and I will be repainting everything visiable. The Cowling and the lower parts of the cowling cover 75 percent of that excluding the lower unit.

I agree about the Spray can if I was touching up maybe but it is not the aproach I was thinking about taking.

DTMackey- thats the excact info I was looking for, thank you. Did you spray clear after you applied the decals? As Other Tom mentioned I have heard that is a great idea but have never seen it, well not yet at least.

Other Tom- I am looking forward to seeing your cowlings and I agree about matching the new radar an absolute must because it helps me catch fish, just like having a 12Kw radar on a 27ft boat wait till you see the new heli-pad for the hard top its schweet! just like Huzinga's(sp?) except my helicotper is made by Matchbox.

[dtmackey]

Thanks guys-

DTMackey- thats the excact info I was looking for, thank you. Did you spray clear after you applied the decals? As Other Tom mentioned I have heard that is a great idea but have never seen it, well not yet at least.

With the cost of decals and they being vinyl I have alsways been reluctant to spray a product over them that has an agressive "solvent" nature to it. It may be fine, but then again, you may be scraping off $100 - $200 in decals and starting over. I think the biggest issue is the paint on most motors is marginal and fails far too soon. Decals only have a limited life in the sun and you should consider an engine cover it you want it to stay nice. I've sprayed many products over the years and found the current combination to be the best for cost and durability.

D-

[ocuyler]

I feel lost.

tx
jason

That'll be the day...

[Ed]

I'd give these guys a call

http://www.outboardexchange.com

They do a lot of OMC rebuilds and refinishing, and can probably tell you what brand of paint and primer they use and what the paint code is.