Re-Painting Yamaha Outboard Motor - Cowling and Lower Unit

[MattMan]

My Yamaha 250 Z250TURC - 2 Stroke Paint job was looking faded and worn out. Paint chips and years of use, had me thinking it was time to repaint it.

This is not an easy project, so make sure you have the tools and SPACE to tackle this. In my case, having my wife let me use the garage for a paint booth was it's own challenge, lol.

I went online and found the Outboard Paint shop and ordered the Yamaha Paint Kit for my Engine. The kit included he base coat and hardener, and the clear and hardener. I also ordered the following separately.

Acme 2k primer 1 quart
Alumiprep
Alodine 1201
Primer Sealer Can

The cowling is fiberglass, so typical automotive paint prep would apply here. However the lower unit is submerged in the water so more steps and preparation are involved. Your paint job is only as quality as the prep work you put into it.

I spent several days striping the decals off the cowling and chemical stripers to remove the factory paint down to the fiberglass. I had too many chips on the paint all over before, so going to base was my decision. The midsection cannot be removed so you have to prep separately. This is made from Aluminum. You want to remove the trim switch, rubber grommets and in my case, I removed the SeaStar steering cylinder. I wanted to reseal this, and it was in the way for a paint gun. With all of the removable parts removed, I scuffed the midsection with 150 grit sandpaper, so the primer would have something to grip to and make a good chemical bond.

With the lower unit, I removed the propeller, the water intake plastic parts, the midsection apron, and loosened the bolts on the lower unit to drop it slightly so when I paint it, it would not be painted stuck together. No good for replacing the water pump in the future. I removed the red pin stripe (ugly) and scuffed with 150 grit sandpaper, sanded again with 220 grit, and 320 grit...all parts and pieces.

The areas you have exposed aluminum, you need to saturate with alumiprep and rinse, then alodine 1201 to seal the aluminum. Skipping this step will ensure you get future corrosion. Especially in salt water! Once everything was sanded to satisfaction, I used a wax grease remover to remove the fine particulates.

TAPE EVERYTHING OFF!

PAINT BOOTH: This part can be tricky. Sure you can paint in a parking lot/driveway. Depending on the time of year, you'll be picking bugs out of your paint, pollen landing in undried paint, rain, etc. I backed my boat engine partially into the garage, and with some plastic from Harbor Freight erected a make shift paint both.

PRIMER COAT: With my 2k primer, I painted 3 coats for good coverage (Cowling, Mid Section, Lower Unit, - let flash 10 minute in between and then sanded with 400 grit

PRIMER SEALER: Using a Primer sealer in a can, Sealed all of my primer work sanded with 600 - wax grease remover

BASE COAT: Mixed base, and hardener- Yamaha Metallic Grey - 3 Good coats - let flash for 10 minutes.

CLEAR COAT: Mix with hardener - 2-3 coats - 10 minutes to flash between. Wait 2 hours and remove the tape.

You can polish and orange peel or fish eye after about 3 days. You can add a coat of wax after 30 days.

This was my method and there are a lot more details, but generally a guideline of what I did.

I haven't ordered decals yet, because I want to do something CUSTOM and make look unique. But you can get factory details if you prefer the stock look!

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