So I have only had my boat for about a month now and already I have paint flaking off of it. I really noticed it yesterday when I was washing it out after hunting and noticed that just using the water hose I was peeling the paint right off the boat. I could probably get my whole boat down to bare aluminum by just spraying it with the water hose. Is this normal? This is my first boat that I didn't do a paint job on myself, since I bought it new from a company. I talked to the company and they said they did use a paint with a primer in it as the base coat but that it got down to 40 degrees the night they painted it. Is this normal for the paint to be flaking away so easily? I figured it would stand up a lot better than it is.

It should not be coming up like that. If it got down to 40 they should have put a heater on it and warmed the hull up before painting it. I've painted them before in the winter and had no problem. But seems like the paint and primer in one is most likely to blame. I've tried a few kinds and none of them would work on steel much less aluminum.

What kind of hull is it if you don't mind me asking?


Sent from my beeper

not normal, they need to repaint your boat!

I didn't think it was normal. When I picked it up there were spots on the front where they put a strap across it to hold it on a trailer and it was all the way down to bare aluminum. Makes me sick to think of what it will look like in another month.

Who painted it and how long ago? Aluminum painting is expensive to do right. I sand with 220, acid wash with hydrofluric acid, etch prime with stromium chromate which is 100 a gallon, then top coat with an industrial enamel 8 hrs after the stromium chromate for a chemical bond.

I don't want to say who built/painted it yet until I hear if they are going to do something about it. I don't want to bash them until they try to make it better. There were other things wrong with the boat and they have attempted to make those problems a little better so maybe they'll continue to do the same with this. But just doesn't seem right to have paint that just flakes away so easily. literally in some spots I can use my finger and wipe the paint off in flakes where there are spots missing paint.

It will all need sand blasted or DA sanded off and start over. It is a prep or temperature issue. Ask them what prep steps and primer they use? Then the TDS will tell them what to do, however 90% of painters dont like to read TDS. Google stromium chromate primer and you will see that is about the only water rated primer and the stromium chromate chemicals in it keep the aluminum from oxidizing under the paint causing it to flake.