Repainting questions

I just purchashed a 90 Supra Mariah project boat. It was in a field for the last 7 yrs in the sun which wore away the gel coat on the sides of the boat. What I was wondering if anyone suggested a paint to re paint this. The underside of the hull looks to be ok so I just want to paint the sides. (from the bottom of the where the blue starts all the way over the top rail) I want to just go with black but would like to get a good shine out of it. The boat will be trailered every time I am done with it. If anyone has some advise I sure would appreciate it.

Re: Repainting questions

That might actually clean up if you didn;t want to paint. Some guys on here have brought really crappy lookin gelcoats back to life with amazing results. That being said. Go to https://www.jamestowndistributors.com and look at their topside paint. The ones I hear of most on this forum are Interlux, Pettit EasyPoxy, and Epiphanes. I believe all of these have been used by the guys here with good results. Hope this helps.

Andrew

Re: Repainting questions

Wet sanding with 2000 grit and buffing can bring the shine back - try an area to see if it works - it will save you alot of money.

Re: Repainting questions

Ditto on the clean-up instead of paint... this should come back nicely, the gel coat doesn't look dinged up at all, just chalky and faded.

Gel coat is thick stuff... you can use various cutting compounds and fine sandpaper on it to try to bring back the shine and not remove it all.

I'd recommend you start with one of the good 3m cutting compounds specifically meant for fiberglass restoration.. they're the equivalent of about 1500 grit sandpaper or less. Use a powered random orbital buffer, it's a fair amount of work.

One or two passes of that should get you down to bright blue gelcoat. Then (following instructions) move on to a polishing compound, then a wax. You should be able to get a very smooth, shiny surface back on that boat.

Erik

Re: Repainting questions

I will try buffing it out and post back pictures with results when complete...thanks guys for the advise

Re: Repainting questions

pictures of the befor and after?
What method did you go with?1
I just moght need to do this to my boat as well!