T-Top Refinish

[gman1001]

Took my t-top off last fall. Badly pitted in spots and just made my boat look beat up.
Decided to paint it. Thought I’d share the steps I took. So far so good! I really leaned on the guys at the paint shop for advice. I bought very high quality paint/reducers/activators.

1. Sand blast, then within two hours I acid etch painted it.
2. let the dam thing sit in garage all winter as I ran out of warm weather!!! Grrr
3. Paint with acrylic primer
4. Paint with color matched cream paint. (From a paint store that supplies car paint shops). I brought a hatch to the paint shop for them to match
5. Four coats, so far of clear coat

I’m no pro at all. I used a 25 dollar harbor freight paint gun and the results are awesome. Some drips here and there but I don’t really care too much.
I am concerned about the ‘cord’ of my t top canvas sort of cutting through the paint. Not sure there is much I can do about that. I guess time will tell.
Overall pretty easy project. Expensive though.
Sandblasting was $650 and the paint was about $300

 

[Efx]

Looks pretty good. Maybe slide some tubing on the cord were it engages the top frame to reduce chafing. Cord may glide in tubeing and not saw cut the paint.

 

[gman1001]

Looks pretty good. Maybe slide some tubing on the cord were it engages the top frame to reduce chafing. Cord may glide in tubeing and not saw cut the paint.

Good idea! The string that ties the canvas top on might also cause some probs. Buttt. I can always repaint!

 

[IcyAtlantic]

Nice job! At about 1k- did you price out getting this powder coated? What clearcoat product did you end up going with?

 

[gman1001]

Nice job! At about 1k- did you price out getting this powder coated? What clearcoat product did you end up going with?

I didn’t price out powder coating. I was kind of gunshy about powder coating based on reports of chipping. Also painting is DYI vs powder coating.
Not sure but I think the sandblast plus powder coating would be pretty steep!

here is the clear coat I used. Along with equivalent activator.

 

[IcyAtlantic]

Cool- thanks for sharing!

 

[gman1001]

update. Finally installed on boat! color match is not exact but not terrible. If I was to do again I’d paint the t top a shade of grey. Saw this on a new boat recently and it looked awesome.

 

[warthog5]

I prefer Epoxy Primer over etch primer.....BUT....Not just any Epoxy Primer....Tamco...It can be sanded if need be...Unlike a lot of others.

Clear ? Again goes to Tamco....High Impact... Or single stage High Impact paint and no Clear. These products exceed normal automotive products as you have used. They are equivalent to of better than Awlgrip. They are designed for Harsh use and environment of Marine & Aviation.

https://tamcopaint.com/products/dta-epoxy-direct-to-anything
https://tamcopaint.com/products/hi-impact-clearcoat-1
https://tamcopaint.com/collections/highimpact

 

[gman1001]

I prefer Epoxy Primer over etch primer.....BUT....Not just any Epoxy Primer....Tamco...It can be sanded if need be...Unlike a lot of others.

Clear ? Again goes to Tamco....High Impact... Or single stage High Impact paint and no Clear. These products exceed normal automotive products as you have used. They are equivalent to of better than Awlgrip. They are designed for Harsh use and environment of Marine & Aviation.

https://tamcopaint.com/products/dta-epoxy-direct-to-anything
https://tamcopaint.com/products/hi-impact-clearcoat-1
https://tamcopaint.com/collections/highimpact

Well, I'll keep the board up to speed on how this wears! I did epoxy primer over the acid etch. i was told the acid etch was needed over the freshly sandblasted aluminum.