painting floats

[porti]

It seems that spring is in the air early this year in the North West and I have been getting an urge lately to refesh the look of my 1947 Edo's... The floats are in good shape after a recent repair under the left step...they are amazingly quite water tight... The old dull, water stained gray paint looks tired.. The paint is not flaking off however and I have been contemplating not trying to remove the old paint but instead just give them a very good sanding with some wet /dry and spray on some new gray??? what do you think??

My other alternative; I have industrial sandblasting equipment as well as lots of experience blasting and painting HEAVY EQUIPMENT... I have no experience with "soda or potassium"as a media for blasting. I do know however that aluminum does not fair well under a blast from regular abrasive.. Does anyone here have any experiance with blasting aluminum floats...

Since I'am on a roll I will take this opportunity to ask a few more float questions.. I have purchased new O rings, pump out funnels and plugs from Lake and Air... I do not like the looks of the clear inspection covers and was wondering if there was another source for reasonably priced aluminum inspection covers.. Also after painting the floats I would like to apply a different product along the tops between the two rails to help protect the tops and inspection covers as well as make this area less slippery. any suggestions?? maybe a similar material to what they spray in pick up boxes.

One last question and then I will stop.. I have seen a few float planes here in Norther B.C. with the underside of their floats covered with a black paint like substance... I asked one guy if he thought it made a differance in his float performance and he said that it did...I dont think that this is for helping with leaks, seems like extra weight for nothing but I am new to this any comments would be appreciated and I thank you in advance

porti

 

[mvivion]

porti,

Be very careful stripping aluminum--it can certainly be done, and I'm sure someone will get on here and give you some advice.

I think you'll find the lexan inspection covers are fairly durable. I thing that you'll also find that they are the cheapest alternative around.

DO NOT put that black stuff on the float bottoms. I repeat, DON'T do it. The stuff is heavy, and it provides a nice place between the coating and the metal to create a corrosion pocket. Good paint is all you really need on a set of floats. I'd try to strip them rather than painting over them, though. Strip em, etch and alodyne them, then paint. You won't gain much if anything in performance by the black stuff, and if you ever need to repair the bottoms with that black crap on them, you'll curse yourself for ever putting it on.

I've put non skid on float tops several ways. You can buy non skid paint products at most marine stores. Finish the floats, and paint the tops with the non skid paint.

Or, buy some walnut shells, crushed, and when you paint the float tops, spread the crushed walnut shells in the wet paint. When dry, put another coat of paint on top.

I've thought about using the stuff they use to coat pickup beds, and I'm sure it would work fine. Getting the stuff shouldn't be that hard.

MTV

 

[porti]

Thank you for your reply Mike! I guess a guy might try those covers from Lake & Air,,, I have kind of been thinking along your lines as to blasting the floats.. I have seen the damage that a blaster can make... I had recently seen in another post (floats for J3) someone mention soda blasting...

I think that I also lean your way with regards to the black stuff on the bottoms. The guy I asked said that it created dimples in the float bottoms like a golf ball decreasing water resistance and his takeoff run. Sounds good in theory but as you say apears heavy and messy to repair.

As for stripping my floats any suggestions on name or brand of stripping, etching or alodine products thank you

porti

 

[Greg Smith]

Klean-Strip makes a great aircraft stripper. I've used it several times. Very wicked stuff... Do it outside, wear thick gloves, eye protection and maybe even a mask. The regular stuff is not Mil-Spec, but the low odor stuff may be. Be careful with any stripper though. If you don't do a thorough job cleaning all the riveted seams, hidden leftover residue can damage the final finish.

Here's some info on Alodine.
http://www.chemical-supermarket.com...on-c109.html?gclid=CMfA6Ory7pECFQduIgodjUuCog

The stripper is available from most auto paint stores. Alumiprep and Alodine are available at Aircraft Spruce.

 

[Snert]

I would say definitely no to sand blasting. Mine were soda blasted and came out real nice. For the anti skid on the deck, I bought some 3M stuff (for stair threads) at the big orange box. It had a reflective yellow stripe that matched Lockhaven Yellow. You can just make out the stripe in this photo. Also, if you paint the covers yellow they easier to find when you drop them in the water.

 

[CRANMAN]

I would highly recommend soda blasting to remove old paint with out damaging the aluminum. I had a fiberglass boat hull done recently. the soda took all the old bottom paint off without any damage to the gellcoat. Another plus is ease of clean-up. Just rinse the soda away and proceed with the etch/alodyne prep for paint.
Jon

 

[StewartB]

I stripped mine using NAPA Aircraft Stripper and a couple of plastic scrapers. For stubborn spots I needed scotchbrite pads on a flex mandrel attached to a die grinder and drill motor. It worked great. Soda blasting would have been easier, but stripping was cheap and relatively easy in a few evenings after work.

I have Lake & Air's transparent covers. They work fine, but don't expect to be able to see through them (moisture condenses on the inner surface). I believe Lake & Air sells aluminum covers as well. I think the plastic ones are tougher. I have no complaints after two seasons with plastic.

Randolf "Wing Walk" is available and works great. I applied it with a cheap brush from Home Depot and threw it away when I was finished. You can get self-adhesive abrasive step coating tapes, too, but I found Wing Walk pretty easy to paint on, covering everything between the top rails right up to the O rings for the plastic hatches.

Stewart

 

[55-PA18A]

I completely stripped and painted my floats/struts and spreader bars last spring. I brushed on aircraft paint stripper, then removed with a power steam cleaner. It peeled the old paint/primer off pretty well. There were a few places I needed to use ScotchBrite to get some of the old primer. Then etched and alodyned, primed, and painted with silver float lacquer.

I was going to replace most of the pump-out cups and ordered a set from Sea and Air. What arrived were some flimsy, two-piece paper-thin aluminum cups, that easily pulled apart. My IA said "Unacceptable !",...so I sent them back along with the wrong pump-out plugs they had sent. Never did hear anything back from them.

Randolf Wing Walk (black) is also a favorite of mine. I painted much of the tops of the floats, especially right over the bulkheads where I want to step. I didn't put it on unsupported places, hoping someone would be less apt to step there. I also use it on steps, tops of my skis, and plywood decking of my skiff.

Door seal/weather stripping adhesive from NAPA worked well to glue the O-rings on after painting.

It's a lot of work, but when you're done you'll be glad you did it. A freshly painted set of floats really looks sharp.

Jim

 

[M1]

I also have a set of old edo floats, 1946 and they are still water tight. We installed aluminum pump out cups from edo (Kenmore) and they are sturdy were easy to install. Just get them to form the tops of the cups to match the curve on the float tops.

I would be really careful about blasting, try a small section first and make sure you are happy with the results. It's very easy damage aluminum, but if done correctly can save lots of time.

M1

 

[floats]

I had my floats lightly sandblasted three years ago. They did a good job, didn't take off too much. We had to go over them with scotch brite afterward to smooth the aluminum a little. It worked real well, but be sure the guy knows how to control things.

We painted with a polyurethane and it has held up really well. It spends a lot of time in and on the water.

We mixed a little sand with paint for the float tops, then topped them with straight paint. I like the light grey, it's cooler on bare feet in the summer, and we did the interior of the plane in the same grey so it ties in together.