Everything back to bare metal?

[mhorowit]

There is a difference between being "good enough" and "perfect", but I'd like to insure I'm not doing something I'll be sorry about in 20 years.

The rudder I'm sandblasting appears fine except for the obvious rust, that is, there are sections were there is no evidence of rust. I"ve even sandblasted some of the joints to inspect their integrity. There are large areas without a trace of rust. Do I need to/should I bring those areas back to bare metal?
That seems a waste of time.

On a similar tack - someone is selling me horizontal stabs which may have no visible traces of rust. It doesn't seem practical to remove the paint and primer.

It seems to me it would be a reasonable approach to gently sand the existing paint (with it's underlying primer), clean, and spray 2 part over that.

Thoughts?

[Greasemonkey]

Re: Everything back to bare metal?

If you are worried about how it is going to look in 20 years, then sandblast it all and reprime. You have the equipment out, and it won't take that much more time or that much more sand. Then you have the reassurance in the back of your head that you did everything to ensure a long life to your parts.

As for the horz. stabs, that is a judgment call based on experience. If you have inspected them completely and feel confident about them. Then by all means scuff and reprime.

[N96337]

Re: Everything back to bare metal?

Mike, just remember that a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link..... meaning if you decide to leave it and just scuff, the finish is only as good as what it goes over..... Sometimes that's just fine...depends on what you're scuffing .
JH

[Marv]

Re: Everything back to bare metal?

Mike just do it right. Sand blast the whole thing, prime the whole thing etc, then if yo keep it another 20 years it will be right and you wont have to worry about it. If you end up selling it , the buyers will be happy to. Marv