I have a summit treestand and the paint has chipped off in some spots. Any recommendations as to what paint to use to cover up the aluminum? I noticed in Home Depot today that Rustoleum (sp?) offers textured flat paint. Thought that might be a good place to start. Any process or paint brands etc... anyone is willing to share would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
MD Piney

Piney,

I would suggest you ask someone at Home Depot who knows about paint and ask them what type/brands of paint work best with aluminum in wet and cold conditions such as hunting. I am sure that they sell a green similar to the olive drab that covers most tree stands today. Another thought is to get a gallon of the paint used to coat truck beds and redo your entire stand. I am not sure how that would contribute to the weight of the stand, but I am sure it would protect it.

Redneck

I agree with redneck. make sure the new paint can take the abuse. You don't want to have to paint every year.

menards has some camo paint . i bought some and touched up my stands this year looks good will keep you informed as to how it holds up

I know that this won't help for touch up but when painting alluminum use zinc cromate primer. It will etch the alluminum and cause the paint to stick longer. I use Krylon camo paint you can get it at wal mart. It works well.

If you are looking for something textured...Try that Herculiner. A quart is like $25, and you can to about 10 tree stands with one quart.

I did my truck bed with it and had some left over. I just covered my climber in it and spotted some green paint here and there over the black. It is tough and looks good. Nice and rough, too.

Pro-Line,

Thanks for the brand name on the bed-liner paint. Speaking of which, I was at a Bass-Pro and they had a guy there who did a European Style mount with a buck and then painted it black with bed liner paint. The guy was there demonstrating the bed liner paint, not showing off the rack mount, so it was pretty interesting. I prefer white for a European Mount, but it was an interesting use of bed-liner paint.

Redneck

Why touch it up at all? Since we know the stand won't rust, you don't have to worry about weak spots. I would leave it as it is for now....it adds break-up to the siloutte of the stand.

MD Piney
Check your local army/navy store. The one in my area has the military O.D. green spray paint.
I just replaced the shrink wrap on my Summit climber and am given it(treestand) a tune up!

silhunter

I went with a common spray paint last year and it really didn't hold up well. Thought the Rustoleum textured paint (seems to have sand/grit in it) might hold up better. Regarding not painting it at all... the chips expose the aluminum and it shines a bit. I might be making something out of nothing, but it was just one of those things that caught my attention during my pre-hunting equipment check. Thought if I'm going to touch it up I better do it now in order to leave some time for it to air out. The bed liner applicant might be a good idea as well, but so is the concern for added weight. I hunt public land and hump pretty far so I try to go as lite as possible.

Well, thanks for all the feedback. I'll weigh all the options and get the chore completed this weekend.

MD Piney