Boat Painting.... help me decide???

[Coach1310]

Okay all. I have picked some of your brains on this already through email, but I having a heck of a time deciding. I am going to begin painting my boat next weekend. For the most part the paint is in tact just fine..other than 15 years worth of little bumps and bruises. How should I do it and what should I use??

I understand I need to remove/clean all the junk off of it and sand it down to get a nice rough finish, but after that I can't decide what to do...

Method

I like the spraying idea, but I understand it takes a lot of prep work to get everything covered and I would need to buy a paint sprayer. But, I have seen a few folks on here do a great job rolling the paint on as well. I have read tons of stuff about Interlux brand paints and how you can brush or roll it on. What would you guys advise?

Paint

Obviously there are some paints out there that are much more expensive then others. I have heard nothing but great things about Interlux Brightside products, but they are spendy. Bottom line for me is a quality result for the most affordable cost... hence why I am doing it myself.

Any other tips, pointers etc would be great. Thanks for taking the time to read it. Stickers and striping are coming off this weekend. I will try to take some pics to show my progress(or lack there of )

Thanks

[Christopher Quast]

What the hey I might as well start talking to you about this subject since I am going to be spraying mine in the near future actually last fall I sprayed mine with rattle cans and I really dont care for the way it turned out alot of runs and so forth I am getting an electric spray gun soon and I think spraying it will give you the best finish if you are careful and it will also get into all the nooks and crannies on the boat where you would have a tough time with a roller and if you had to use a brush on certain parts you would end up having brush strokes and maybe alot of runs in the paint so my opinion is spray it and the prep is only as difficult as you make it as far as neat goes I taped my whole boat of and sanded it with a hand sander in about an afternoon all I used is blue painters tape and newspaper works great just run your tape along the line where you want it at and paint away painting really is no rocket science like some people lead you to believe Good Luck!

[mr walleye]

GOLDTIP Check your other post on paint

[mr walleye]

electric sprayers are OK for latex, but if you want to spray automotive finishes you will be better off with air.

[rodmaker]

Have you checked out how much it would cost you to have someone do it??. Maybe contact Custom Rigging in White Bear. I'm not sure if they get into painting, but they do a great job on boat remodeling.