Painting Brand new outdrives

John41

Just got my Brand new outdrives installed. Can someone recommend a clear paint for them before I put it in the water? Thanks

rasbury

Put some wax on them- they have very good paint on them and putting any coating in them might be worse!

YYZRC

Boat p0rn.  I know there are a lot of Merc fans on here but I love a good VP.

Willhound

Agree with Ras. Those drives have the best paint tech the factory could develop. (Or so I would think.) Wax the heck out of them and enjoy the finish as long as you can and then paint when really needed.

PickleRick

You could do a wet sand and clear coat them but unless you pull the drives, remove decals you're not getting 100% coverage.  Not sure it would do anything to help the factory coat.  Stray electrical current coming from other boats/dock and anode neglect usually does more damage than marine growth over time, again the clear coat wouldnt add any protection against that, if anything an epoxy clear might only buy you a little extra time.   

Ive been wondering how plasticoat would work on outdrives.  Works great on wheels/cars for a few weeks.  When it starts looking like crap you peel it off and reapply.  

It wouldnt help against against corrosion but would help against growth. 

I painted my old alpha because im cheap and its a cheap alpha but if i needed a bravo or vp painted id consider tear down, blast and ceramic coating.    

aero3113

I would think the paint that is on them is better than any paint you could apply. Like others said, use a good paste wax on them.

[Deleted User]

I painted my Ocean X drive, but the paint didn't last long at all. The anti-corrosion coating is the issue, anti-fouling paint doesn't stick.Now I just pay an extra $14 a month to my diver for a thorough drive cleaning and I think it's worth it. 

Andy

Michael T

Painting new drives? Noooooooooooooo :-(