Paint over rivets

[Pell]

I am trying to use an enamel paint on my cedar strakes and I have rosehead rivets (copper)that are proud on the surface.I am trying to find out what I have to prime with in order to get adhesion with the enamel.I have wordol wood primer it just says ok for one part paints.Thanks

[Graham Knight]

The normal procedure for painting copper, or copper containing alloys such as brass, is to use a 2 part etch primer.
Any good paint supplier should be able to advise you on this, is it normal to prime copper rivets on boats though?

[Wild Wassa]

Prime with a 'red oxide metal primer' or use an acid tech primer available from an automotive paint supplier.

Clean the surface with an abrasive pad, firstly. Some will say, sand the surface but that is a bit brutal.

Warren.

[ 11-02-2005, 06:26 AM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[merlinron]

that's what i was going to say too, go to an automotive parts house that sells paint and talk to them.

[alienzdive]

Copper is a very difficult product for paint manufacturers to make a paint that sticks.
Copper requires preperation and de-oxodising, and then the application of etch primer. This however will not usually be guaranteed and many manufacturers will not supply a paint specifically for the purpose of painting copper as it will usually fail at some unknown time.

Just paint with normal enamel. Enamel will last about as short or as long as anything else. Maybe just spot prime them first prior to a full coat all over.

[ssor]

I must be missing something here. I have pulled painted copper water pipe out of houses that had been painted with a variety of interior house paints and after several years exposure to the weather the paint on the pipes still requires considerable effort to remove.

Maybe if you just choose to not paint the rivets and the paint gets on them by accident it will stick like paint on waterpipes. ;)

[Wild Wassa]

ssor, (between you and me and off the record of course).

What we say isn't necessarily what we do, ask any painter. Your paint didn't fail because you didn't use a primer, also ask any painter, what fails first, the topcoat or the primer? It is the primer that is the first layer to fail, again any house painter will tell you. Nowadays the primers are in the paint, to make life easy.

(Again off the record). I feel that way about the primer on epoxy thread. There is no better primer than epoxy. I haven't seen one and I am a painter.

Warren.

[ 11-04-2005, 03:29 AM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[Paul G.]

Wassa,

Would you paint the interior of an old (wooded) planked hull with thinned epoxy as a primer? I think something like red lead would be better.

[Thorne]

I just painted both the interior and exterior of a boat with copper rove rivets, no issues with adhesion to either head or rove.

The exterior was sanded then coated with CPES then painted with marine oil-based high-build primer, then marine enamel -- interior just sanded and painted with marine enamel -- no problems either way.

http://www.luckhardt.com/scraper1.jpg
http://www.luckhardt.com/primer1.jpg