When I rebuilt my old pontoon boat, the fences needed a lot of work. I spent a lot of time trying to remove the decals and glue before deciding on an easier course. The fences were off the boat so the job was a little easier that way. I pressure washed them to remove as much chalky paint, decals and flaking as possible. My fences were manufactured with a dimpled texture in the aluminum, so I wan't too worried about minor dents. I was mostly worried about putting on a finish that wouldn't flake off or change colors in the sunshine. After pressure washing, I washed down each fence just before cleaning with a wax/oil remover. When that was dry and the cloth didn't show any more chalk or flakes, I taped off the areas that needed it and spray painted it with Rustoleum Hammered White in a rattle can. I think it took about ten cans total. When the paint was dry for a week I put new decals over the the rough area left by the original decals. In my case, the original was essentially a stripe about a foot tall that completely circled the boat at about the middle of the fence. My stripe was custom designed by me on my home computer, and made by an online company for less than a hundred dollars. When the decal arrived, I discovered it had been made in India and shipped over in less than a week.
Two years later I'm still happy with the paint. The decals haven't fared as well. Some have started to peel up as the slick finish of the Rustoleum and the dimpled texture of the metal were too much for the adhesive in some places.
