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Painting a boat with automobile paint


JB23

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I am looking at painting just the side of my haul at a automobile paint shop with car paint.  Has anyone done this before and what is the down side of it. please share you opinions on the following and anything else you can think of.

1. will it work and hold up for more than a few years.

2. will it hurt my resale value 

3. Does it hold up better than a wrap.

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martinarcher

I would stay away due to point #2 alone.  I would never consider a boat that has been painted.  I can't imagine many would due to how well it holds up for the long run compared to gel.  Are you wanting a color change or is the existing gel in rough shape?  You'd be shocked how a wetsanding and buffing can bring a boat back from the dead.

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Don't paint your boat.  Period.  It will look like hell, kill the resale value and not hold up.

Wet sand/polish as mentioned above if it just looks rough.  If you hate the color, wrap it.

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I put a boat wrap on previous boat, old ski boat. Looked awesome, when I resold I pulled it off and it was amazing. Protected it from fading over 5-6yrs looked great. Buyer couldn't believe how well it looked. Easy to clean as well! For$1200 it probably saved me that much in time from not cleaning and not waxing the thing. Even if u want to cover one area or change color just do a wrap in that area. Easy n cheap. Or wetsand

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I wouldn't do it to a newer 'bu. But I did do it to an old Nautique. Came out gorgeous !! The original surface was nasty. At the time, paint was about the only option. This was 1980, on a 1960 something Nautique. I bought the paint templates for a newer Nautique and the shop did a great job on it. Held up well, and I'm sure looked as good as factory. Sorry, no pics. The boat had a ford 312 engine, that I swapped for a Chevy 327. Reversed the rotation, etc.

Steve B.

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I did it to a Glastron/Carlson CVX 23 I had, it turned out awesome. Boat was originally gold flake an faded beyond wet sanding, I sanded, painted it Daytona Electric Blue and cleared it. I had that boat for 3 years and the paint held up just fine. It was harder to keep it from staining and required wax quite often. That boat is still on lake Possum Kingdom, that makes it 11 years on automotive paint. Unless he had it gelcoated the same color and scheme.

 

I did not paint the hull, just the sides and top.

Edited by MLBurns
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I painted an old jet ski. So far, so good. I know a guy who painted an old Brendella too.  It's a pretty common thing to do on old boat forums. It seems like they usually do fine if the prep is done well.

Decals & wraps don't do well with dock rash either. Not that paint does a lot better. Seems like gelcoat is tougher than both. What about spraying gelcoat?

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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8 hours ago, Chia said:

I always assumed the go fast boats around Havasu were painted. Am I wrong? 

No, you are not wrong. There are many, many boats and jet skis out there that have been painted. We used to paint our stand-ups all the time and it works fine.

I'd still wrap it for a few reasons:

--Returnable to stock

--No impact on perceived value (read comments above). Of course you don't have to mention it was painted when you sell it, so long as you get the next point perfect:

--Difficult (not impossible) to get a clean, smooth edge without a raised line the entire border of a painted area without clearcoating the neighboring areas too. 

--Cost.

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You can save almost any gelcoat. They are VERY thick. I've sanded an Axis A22 hull with 220 grit sandpaper and not even come close to going all the way through it.

Restore your existing gelcoat. it's ALWAYS the best way to go.

All of that being said, my dad and I painted an old Boston Whaler when I was a kid. The boat was WAY forgone for gelcoat repairs. It was so pitted from barnacles that it had to be sandblasted and filled. I HIGHLY recommend that if you are going to paint a boat, you use Interlux Brightside. NOT Automotive paint. https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=64

The results speak for themselves, no fancy equipment needed to apply it, and it's DURABLE. I ran the Boston Whaler in salt water for years and it held up great.

 

Edited by boardjnky4
  • Like 2
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4 minutes ago, boardjnky4 said:

You can save almost any gelcoat.

OP has never been back to tell us the reason for the question--fading, chalking, ghosting of where old graphics were, or simply a color change.

If it's not a color change I agree with you. There are many pics on here of boats that have been brought back from chalk, including mine and @Michigan boarder 's

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2 minutes ago, jk13 said:

OP has never been back to tell us the reason for the question--fading, chalking, ghosting of where old graphics were, or simply a color change.

If it's not a color change I agree with you. There are many pics on here of boats that have been brought back from chalk, including mine and @Michigan boarder 's

chalk is nothing! ha. I'm dealing with a boat right now (the afformentioned A22) that has scatches through the gelcoat, all over the boat. The transformation is amazing. If you can get the color-matched spectrum repair paste, you can fix pretty much anything.

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16 minutes ago, boardjnky4 said:

chalk is nothing! ha. 

It's something when it doesn't become solid material until you've sanded enough that you can start to see the underlying grey coat through the red.

But sure, yours can be worse if it matters to you. 

Good on you for tackling it yourself.

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Just now, jk13 said:

It's something when it doesn't become solid material until you've sanded enough that you can start to see the underlying grey coat through the red.

But sure, yours can be worse if it matters to you. 

Good on you for tackling it yourself.

well that's true... i've not seen one that badly chalked, but it sure is possible.

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My first boat, A Nautique fell off it's trailer before I bought it. It's fiberglass looked like this. Not sure who took this picture, but credit goes to them, please dont mind the link to another forum.

Old Nautique

Imron paint looked fantastic and held up well. 

Steve B.

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I changed the color of my old supra with gelcoat it was tan and I wanted it to be white. the gelcoat is cheaper than the paint would have been and held up great and is easy to repair. but to do and overall gelcoat it took lots of work. once you spray it you have lots of orange peal that has to be sanded which took a month or too. but it turned out great. if you go that route I would get a good gun to spray it with, i used a sharpe razor rp gun with a 2.2 or 2.5 tip it made a huge difference from when i first tried to spray with a 1.9 priming gun the gelcoat it thick and you need a good gun to be able to lay it on.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Steve B. said:

My first boat, A Nautique fell off it's trailer before I bought it. It's fiberglass looked like this. Not sure who took this picture, but credit goes to them, please dont mind the link to another forum.

Old Nautique

Imron paint looked fantastic and held up well. 

Steve B.

Imron is a Polyurethane Enamel, so it's really similar to Interlux Brightside that I linked to.

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Totally bad idea. Makes me cringe and gives me the willies.

its like giving your bulldog a foo-foo haircut and a bow on top of his head. I'd be just so sad knowing it has to live its life like that.

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