Coating aluminum is no simple task. unanodized aluminum quickly, as in within hours, begins to produce aluminum oxide on the surface. This ultimately powdery type surface will turn to heavy corrosion without the presence of oxygen. saying that another way, any aluminum with even a hint of oxidation that gets a coat of paint over it will begin to corrode like crazy. that's why the painted aluminum has bubbling paint anywhere its scratched. Having done all of this myself to original hatteras frames, i would have gone with fiberglass had i known what i know now about how much effort is involved to coat aluminum correctly, and I did do it correctly. preparing the exterior of corroded frames requires all oxidation and anodize to be removed. once its removed you have precious little time to do any repairs. Tank stripping all anodize and welding your repairs would be far better than plastic filler. The anodizing company will then dip the frames again to clean them and reanodize everything inside and out. its up to you to get the surface looking good as all sanding scratches will show right through the anodized surface. Then you can sand the areas you want painted and as mentioned before use zinc etch prime (no more zinc chromate-good bye variprime, FU epa) followed by a no sand primer and the top coat you want. Its a lot of dedicated, attention to minute detail type work to do it right and in the end unless you really want those aluminum frame or concerned about weight, you're better off buying the fiberglass versions. oh yeah, good luck finding anodize shops with tanks large enough to dip frames the size we are talking about, they are few and far between.
