powdercoating question

[502ss]

Hello all,
I am in the process of rebuilding my 21' Tahiti and decided to trick it out with new guages and bezels, new shifter handle, new stering wheel and they are all powdercoated the royal blue color that Dana Marine offers. My question is now I have a whole bunch of other parts to powdercoat that I want to match but my local powder coater needs the paint code. Dana marine says the color is there own mix but there must be a way to match it. Dana did offer to possibly powder coat the parts I wanted done but it would cost a fortune for me to send all the parts from New Hampshire. Any help would be great!
Thanks
502ss

[Dan Lorenze]

You need to find a Powdercoater that has paint chips that are already done so that you can compare the shades of blue. I bet Dana's blue isn't as special as you would think. My guy has a few dozen shades of blue, and they can manipulate the color by multiple coats or adding colors to find your desired color or sheen.

[flat broke]

How much is your time worth? It can take a while running parts here and there, looking at color samples, making appointments to talk to someone who actually knows what they are doing etc. If Dana offered to shoot your stuff to match what you bought, you might want to add up the weight and see how much it would cost for ground freight to Corona.
Just my .02,
Chris

[502ss]

Dan,
I worked with my powdercoater to try and match the blue for my steering column. He was able to get real close but we just can't seem to get the shimmer that the dana parts have. I am starting to wonder if all of dana's parts are polished first and then coated. That would explain how theres looks so shiney!
Thanks
Jim

[502ss]

Chris,
as you can see from my post to Dan, I already have considerable time invested with my local powdercoater to try and get this right. I thought about your idea regarding sending the parts to dana put I am talking about a lot of parts, here is a partial list.
Big Block Valve Covers
Carb Bowls
Flame arestor cover
Risers
Pump Bowl
Pump Nozel
Stearing and reverse levers
Reverse door
Existing swim platform brackets
Misc. boat hardware
etc..., etc...
This would probably cost a couple of hundred to ship. The convience of having my local guy able to do the parts would be nice especially for when a new part comes up.
Thanks for your idea though.
...Jim

[flat broke]

That is a hefty list in terms of weight; no doubt about that. In terms of trying to match the shiney appearance of their powder, there are a couple ways they could be getting the depth that they have in their parts. They could be using a reflective chrome basecoat, then shooting the translucent blue (there are tons of variations on that color), they could be polishing the part prior to PC as you mentioned (this is my guess as they might do it with each part so it can be Ano'd, PC'd, or left polished and so stock isn't tied up in unpopular colors), or they could have a different formulation of powder than what your guy is using combined with any of the above. This is why I made my orriginal statement, as it could take lots of trial and error to duplicate a custom blend.
If it were me, I'd call Dana, explain the situation, and see if they can be of any further assistance in explaining their PC process to you so that you can inform your PC guy. Perhaps offer to buy the powder from them so they have a little incentive to help out. In the end, they may have some very valid business reasons why they can't help out to that degree, but it's worth a shot. Just an FYI, if your PC guy has been doing PC with other than opaque colors for any time at all, I'd think he should be able to tell if the powder was shot over a polished part, or as a two stage.
Good luck with it,
Chris

[bp]

sounds like you have a whole lot more stuff to do than what you got from dana. how about taking the stuff you got from dana to your pc'r, and have it all pc'd the same color? if you do that, make sure to get several extra pounds, either to keep yourself, or for him to keep, in case you want more stuff the same color.
some years ago, i had everything in my boat pc'd, from the pedal assembly to the ride plate, same gold color. problem was, the powder was from austria and they quit making it. fortunately, my pc'r got all they had, and he keeps it stashed for me. when i had mpd completely redesign and make a new pedal assembly for me this last winter, they were able to do it so it matches everything else. ya just never know when something might break, or you want to redo something.

[sanger rat]

Pendrys candy blue over polish aluminum matches up perfect. https://www.pendrypowdercoatings.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=34&products_id=119&osCsid=8b3757214a435ef7e46c074c538b8dba http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/1937pic0pc0.jpg

[502ss]

Sanger Rat,
Thanks for the input, I will order a sample from pendry and have my local pc'r spray some.
...502ss