On Jun 5, 5:09?am, "longshot" wrote:
I bought a 1988 bayliner & the 12" wide stripe around it is chipped pretty bad. I am guessing someone painted it with the wrong type of paint over the years. I want to repaint it. I live in central Indiana & there aren't any marinas locally. Is there a certain type of paint I should use? brands recommended or that I should stay away from? Can I buy it online? I assume it would be an epoxy based type. I'd also like to paint the black I/O outside the boat it's also pretty faded. thanks! all tips are appreciated!

Rob

Are you going to repaint the entire boat? What size is your 1988
Bayliner.

Painting just the stripe will accent the aged condition of the
adjacent gelcoat.

The best marine paints for use above the waterline are two-part
polyurethanes; you have to mix the paint with a catalyst (hardener)
before application. This can be pretty tricky for an amatuer and the
material is best applied with a sprayer so a complete moon suit with
decent respirator and an enclosed but ventilated work area are
important. Few people spray their own two-part polys, most hire it
done.

You can roll and tip two-part poly, and optimists like to believe that
the results are almost as good as the spray. Roll and tip is a
technique where the paint is initially applied with a paint roller and
then lightly feathered with a brush.

For most of us who want to tackle a paint job on the topsides, there
are some fairly good one-part polys available that are somewhat easier
to work with. The "Brightside" brand is one that I have used in the
past to paint boot stripes and (what you're describing) a whale
stripe. Painting with Brightside is like using a very high quality
enamel. It can be done with a brush and is pretty forgiving,
particularly if you use a couple of light coats and don't slap it on
so thickly that you get sags and runs on the vertical areas.

Rule of thumb, if you haven't spent at least 10 times the amount of
time prepping as you are going to spend painting- you're not ready to
paint.
The prep work is the most important part of the job.

If you plan to keep the boat for a while you might want to look into
having a professional paint the entire boat. It might cost as much or
more to do so than a 20-year old Bayliner is worth, but you'll have
the nicest one anywhere around. Like most things boat related, the
expense wouldn't make any real sense, but if (only if) you expect to
own the boat for several more years and want to take some pride in it
in the meantime painting an older boat can be worth it. You'll get a
small portion of the painting price back at resale time, but not
enough to justify spending the money, from a purely financial
perspective, in the first place.

I had my boat painted last year with a paint made in Germany. A group
of executives that left US Paint, (Awlgrip), contracted with
Manckiewicz (spelling) to brew this stuff up. It's called Alexseal.
The results were fabulous. The only downside is that almost a year
later an no matter where I go in the boat somebody will walk up and
insist on conversing about my "brand new" boat, ("Who's building
boats with all that teak on the extrior these days?" etc). My brand
new boat was built 6 years before yours. :-)