Painting MR-1 Outdrive

[four winns 214]

I have a good old Merc MR-1 outdrive on my 1984 Sea Cuddy. It's off the boat for maintenance and it would be a good time to paint it. A couple times over the seven years I have owned it, I have sanded and primed it and repainted it. I'd like to do a little better job this time. Is there a way to safely strip all of the paint off? The boat spends a good part of the season in the water (fresh) and I clean it well after taking it out of the water for the season. Should I consider using an abalative coating? If so, which one?

 

[alldodge]

I have a good old Merc MR-1 outdrive on my 1984 Sea Cuddy. It's off the boat for maintenance and it would be a good time to paint it. A couple times over the seven years I have owned it, I have sanded and primed it and repainted it. I'd like to do a little better job this time. Is there a way to safely strip all of the paint off? The boat spends a good part of the season in the water (fresh) and I clean it well after taking it out of the water for the season. Should I consider using an abalative coating? If so, which one?

My .02 worth, you don't want to use ablative paint on an outdrive. The reason is most ablative paints contain copper. You want your drive to have no metallic substance on the drive exposed. I would suggest using a good self etching primer and then coat with epoxy paint

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,...... Years ago, I tried the ole doin' a super paint finish on my drive,....
It always just bubbled, 'n peeled again in a rather short time,...

Then I stumbled in here one day, 'n met Don S,.....
Since that day, I paint my drives usin' the Don S method,...('n a 'ell of alota Other things)
I scrape off any built up crud with a putty knife, 'n shoot it with a can of Rustoleum black every couple of years,.....
It ain't the most beautiful shiny drive, but it's protected, 'n black,.....

 

[four winns 214]

Thanks, guys. I'll just keep doing what I've been doing- cleanup, scrape then sand to rough up, prime and paint with aerosol.

 

[crazy charlie]

For years I would sand down and prime and phantom black lacquer spray so that my drives looked beautiful.Did it in steps with a lot of effort.Then the boat would go in the water for 5 months and the drives would look like crap and I would start all over again.Decided I didn't need them to look pretty due to the time and effort that it took.Now I pressure wash and use a cleaning brush.Wipe with either acetone,thinners or alcohol and prime bare metal and lather with either engine enamel or rustoleum.Same results as far as protection with waaaay less effort.So they don't look pretty.