Best paint for my jet boat...?

« **on:** January 26, 2007, 08:44:04 PM »

Does anyone out there know the best paint to use for a home paint job, and where to pick it up. 18' Hondo hull. Boat has gel coat with metal flake. Do I sand into gel coat or just paint over gel?

« **Reply #1 on:** January 26, 2007, 11:10:12 PM »

A friend of mine had an 18' Hondo that was a silver metal flake. He sanded 90% of it down and with 220 grit dry and then used a Primer called Feather Fill. He then sanded that with 400 grit wet and then applied DP40 Primer in black. Light gray primers are translucent and might show transitions in any bodywork you may have done. After applying the DP40 primer he wet sanded that in 800 wet and then applied his basecoat. From there he flamed it and then cleared it. All products were PPG. You can get them at Automotive Paint supply stores. Sometimes you can call one of your local bodyshops and find out where a local PPG distributor is near you.

« **Reply #2 on:** January 27, 2007, 09:13:54 PM »

Yep sure do. use Dupont Imron 5000 It's a singe stage paint that is super durable. The nice part is that you can wet sand it and put down any grafix you like and clear over top in a imron 6000 clear. It's tougher then gel coat.

Q-jet is right on with his friends painting process and PPG is good paint. Ok here is the big BUTT... that process if exactly correct for painting a car but i question it's durability. Boat paint takes much more abuse and water getting in a seam and peeling the paint off could be a good posibility. In addition the process discribed here will only be extreamly durable if baked.. Most home paint guys don't have a baking system.

Check out my pics I been a custom painter for years and know a thing or two about paint.

Here is one more item to keep in mind. Paint years ago use to adhere to scratches that is how it held on. Now it's chemically adhered together. Wet sanding a full hull after primering is more then a two day job for one guy and by then the chemicals that adhere the primer to the paint will evaporate away and needless to say there goes your adhesion. With a single stage IMRON paint you can do a final sand with 320 grit or even 400 and start laying your paint down. And no the sand scraches will not show.

If you got any questions just pm me.

One more thing I would guess that q-jet's friend has been painting for years from what he posted i would also say his friend is a professional painter most do it your selfers would not know all those details.

« **Reply #3 on:** January 27, 2007, 09:26:02 PM »

Forgot to answer your other questions your existing gel coat will make a great surface to primer on sand it with 220 and lay 3 medium wet coats allow it to dry per the recomendations of the mfr. do a final sand and start painting.

There are paint vendors all over Cali just look in the phone book. keep in mind that Cali AQMD only allows you to use 2.8voc paint in California. Here in Vegas we can still use 3.5voc meaning it had more solids per gallon. The higher the voc the nicer it lays down flat. The lower the vic the higher the chances you will have orange peel. I always recomend heating the paint to about 120 degrees it helps it lay down nicer.

If your going to use single stage use a HVLP paint gun with a 1.3 or 1.2 needle and cap it breaks down the paint particles much finer ther for giving you a smooth paint finish.

One down side is that if you get dirt in the paint and want to color sand it out you half to do it with in a day or two tops of painting the boat. After that the paint will be to hard to colors sand and buff.

rebuild18

Best paint for my jet boat...?

Quickjet

Re: Best paint for my jet boat...?

jbwrodeo

Re: Best paint for my jet boat...?

jbwrodeo

Re: Best paint for my jet boat...?