1973 16 Monark

need a little advice. It was burried to axle in guys yard and having a difficult time cleaning the buddy bearings. Is it ok to take them off ( how ? ) or can I power wash them on?

Secondly do i have to strip boat to bare aluminum to repaint ? I read self etching primer but no paint stands out. and recomendations ?? Any and all help appreciated

Was going to corroseal the trailer but leaning towards wet sand blasting. Trailer not totally rusty so I read without rust corroseal does not do much.

service everything, buddies, bearings, and seals. the buddies just wedge into the hub. so you can use a dead blow hammer or a ball peen hammer and a block of wood and tap (as in, not beat the heck out of. lol) on opposite sides horizontally and vertically till it starts to come loose. once off, you can carefully (it's spring loaded) remove the retainer clip to teardown the buddy bearing to clean it. clean the inner hub, clean and check bearings and races, replace the inner seal. if you have any pitting at all on the bearings or races, replace them (as a set, if you replace the bearing, you also replace the race)

as far as painting that boat goes, a lot depends on whats on there now, it's all about adhesion. like, is what's on there now flaking off or will it feather edge without flaking off at the edges? i would consider; alumiprep and a scotchbrite pad then a good 2 part epoxy topcoat on bare aluminum. or a good 2 part epoxy primer to spot prime, block, and feather edge, sand all areas to be painted, then a good 2 part epoxy topcoat. or dupont variprime 615S/616S, it's an etching primer, after stripping and sanding with 320 grit aluminum oxide sandpaper, it is important to use an aluminum oxide sandpaper for sanding on aluminum. i would use a 2 part epoxy topcoat over any of this

On removing paint Try a spot with wifes Fingernail polish remover (Acetone) .Might work with scotchbrite....;....I had a bad weld to clean on my alu boat to repair ...tryin to get paint of area was a bitch..(Acetone took it right off) I'm sure it won't on all paints but it sure did on mine...