Re: Repainting metal flake question
When the boat is originally built, what you see as the bright, sparkly, shiny finish is actually the first thing that they apply to mold...generally it is a coat of clear gel coat, then one or two coats of clear with the glitter mixed in, then finally the base colors of gel coat...then they begin adding layers of either cloth or using a chopper gun, begin building up the basic thickness of the hull skin...
After they add in all the structure, etc, they pop it out of the mold and that is what you get...
Your best option, if you know what you are doing, is to repaint using a good primer/sealer, then a quality base color, then you can apply the glitter in a base of clear, and finally top it all off with a coat or three of just clear coat to protect it...
Make sure you use one particular brand for all of your color coats to insure compatibility...
PS- The kind of quality paints you are going to be looking at can easily run into the $500 - $1000.00 range [2-300 for the clear coat kit, 2-300 for the base coat kit, 2-300 for a good quality epoxy primer/sealer kit, plus the glitter additive] so you really don't want to be "learning" with that kind of bank roll...
Last time I checked, Imron boat paint, with all the required additives [reducer, catalyst] was running about 3-500 dollars per kit, wholesale, which yields approximately 2-2.5 gallons of product...and it all needs to be sprayed in an automotive type spray booth with the proper personal protection gear...otherwise the finish will be crappy at best and you could poison yourself...
Inexpensive paint will hold up well, may not give you the original look as well and may not even be available in the colors you want...
When it comes to paints, you can go inexpensive and fairly plain jane with solid colors that will hold up well similar to Rustoleum, or you can go whole hog and spend a small fortune...
There are inexpensive automotive paints on the market that run about 1-200 per kit, but they may not hold up too well to the marine environment and the selection is somewhat limited...one of the brands that come to mind is "Nason"
Best of luck and let us know what you end up doing and how it turns out...
GT1M