Okay, I have avoided asking this here, because I thought I knew what to do. Well, I have read a dozen articles including all the ones from previous years on BABC, the often linked Boaters Ed Mercruiser thread, searched every forum out there, and I hear "Use zinc chromate primer", Don't use zinc chromate on an aluminum drive", "sand or grind entire drive to bare metal", "don't sand all the paint off, only the corrosion parts"
blah, blah, blah. So I have come back here to ask what you would do, have done, or will do concerning re-painting a Volvo Penta sterndrive.

I trust you guys for honest no BS answers, so please guide me through this.

Thanks in advance.

Make sure you guy silver/pray paint and as far as that I have no idea...that is my honest, non BS answer.

Take it from me, remove the least amount of paint possible. You will not get anything to stick like the factory finish and you'll be repainting the corroded areas every year from now on. I made the mistake of sanding the entire drive and now I have to paint it all every year and it sucks.
As far as the primer, I use whatever basic grey primer they sell at Walmart and it works great. It's the paint that I can't get to stick, no matter whether it's overpriced Mercruiser paint or Wal Mart paint. But the Mercruiser primer and Wal Mart primer seem to hold up pretty good.
Best of luck.

From what I have been told by a few dealers is that key to proper adhesion is a primer with zinc chromate. I also have to touch up some areas on my drive. This year I plan on using Interlux Primocon following the directions prepared below followed by a couple coats of Quick Silver Mercruiser paint.

http://www.yachtpaint.com/USA/boat_painting_guide/pdf/antifouling/outdrives.pdf

Zinc chromate primer. They use it on airplanes, and I used it on my Alpha. My problems were because I didn't prep the surface well enough, if I were to do it now, I'd have no problems.

Be sure to paint it black. Those silver outdrives just look silly.

What was it that Henry Ford said? "You can have your Model-T any color you want as long as it's black" or something like that.

I can't really hose it down in the storage facility, any ideas what to use to get all the sanding dust off before applying primer ?

I've got a spray bottle filled with water for when I wet sand. Then before I start to apply primer, I wipe it down with wax & grease remover.

Just used this method on 'vette parts and they came out better than I could have ever imagined.

And make sure you mask the surrounding areas real well.

Thanks F14, that's a good idea. Yep, I will be masking everything around it, as the boat is sandwiched amongst many other boats. I don't want any overspray on my boat or anybody else's. I thought I would blast it with an air compressor first, then wipe it down. The zinc chromate paint seems to just come in green or yellow, any color better than the other for a silver final coat? Also, I have heard you can spray clear over the silver final coat (per Wet Dogg's expert no BS advice)for extra protection. Necessary, or just fluff?

That advice will cost you...

Checks' in the mail........

Clear is obviously optional in this case. Its really up to you, and the look you're trying to achieve. You want the primer to be as contrasting as possible with the final color. This comes from the guy I know at the local auto parts store, that I've bought paint from. When the Corvette was painted two years ago, it was a black primer followed by the Competition Yellow.

You may find it necessary to wet sand the primer before color is applied. And when you're done sanding and inspecting the surface, always go by feel, not by sight. Your eyes can play a lot of tricks on you with surface preparation.

A good paint job is 90% prep work, and 10% actually spraying.

I'm sure the drive will come out great.

Where are the 10 other checks I am still waiting for