Having boat painted

[Bryand82487]

Is it possible to have just the yellow repainted on the sides of the boat and the AIR graphics replaced. If so about how much do you think it would cost and who could do it?

[GoBig]

RE: Having boat painted

I have never seen painted gel coat turn out that well. I would suggest doing a vinyl wrap. Upfront cost will likely be more but it would look a heck of a lot better. Vinyl wrap is probably in the neighborhood of $15/sf + install. Google "vehicle vinyl wrap" or "marine wraps" for your area.

[CradGen2]

RE: Having boat painted

Have you tried buffing out the yellow. Might take it to a good detailer. No need to repaint a 2000 something boat. Might have to restrip it!. I wouldn't repaint.

[Bryand82487]

RE: Having boat painted

I haven't tried buffind out the yellow yet. What exactly is restripping ?

[Bryand82487]

RE: Having boat painted

I know I shouldn't have to repaint it, I just bought it and it's bothering me that everything isn't perfect ha

[CradGen2]

RE: Having boat painted

Sorry - Pin Stripe. New Air Sticker. Some rubbing compound and the yellow will look like new. I'm a perfectionist too.

Personally I would buy a boat that has been re-painted. JMO

[bchesley]

RE: Having boat painted

My buddies 01 looked way worse than that and we just got finished buffing his to a like new finish. After a polish and new pin striping it will be like new. It just needs some TLC.

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Having boat painted

Do a search on wet sanding, your boat will look as good as new with a little elbow grease.

[ffmedic74]

RE: Having boat painted

I would definitely recommend removing the pinstripe, wetsand, and go through all the buffing, polishing steps and I think it will look brand new.

[SquamInboards]

RE: Having boat painted

you wouldn't be re-painting it, there was never any paint there in the first place. Take a look at what some of the guys on this site have done to get 20+ year-old boats looking like they came off the production line and you'll see that you're actually in fine shape.
Here's an o.k. pic of an '89 supra we cleaned up last summer.

[wakeboardin2k4]

RE: Having boat painted

Ya I'm with squaminboards on this one. All you gotta do is wetsand that bad boy. If you don't want to do it yourself you can pay a marina or someone. But doing it yourself is not that hard its just long and tedious. This is what I did with the transom of my boat in just a couple hours.

[GoBig]

RE: Having boat painted

I removed my decals last weekend. I was going to wetsand but first tried 3M Rubbing Compound followed by 3M Finesse-It II Mirror Glaze. That stuff is not cheap but worth every penny. I skipped the wetsand and my boat is gleaming. There are a couple of areas that I may need to touch up with wetsand but overall, I'm super stoked on the results.

[bkhallpass]

Re: Having boat painted

Is it possible to have just the yellow repainted on the sides of the boat and the AIR graphics replaced. If so about how much do you think it would cost and who could do it?

The key to your question is should it be repainted. It was not painted to begin with. the yellow is gel coat, and is several millimeters thick. As others suggested, you can go at it with some strong rubbing compounds and it should be good as new. In worst case scenario, the gel coat can be wetsanded to take off the faded outer layer. Usually
this involves going through several grits of wetsanding, then a rough compound, and finally a polishing compound, but it will work.

As mentioned, you'll probaby have to replace the pin stripe, and the decals, but that's
a much better solution than painting over gel coat.

BKH

[AirTool]

Re: RE: Having boat painted

Personally I would buy a boat that has been re-painted. JMO

I think you meant "would (not) buy..."

[SquamInboards]

just for comparison, this is a before pic of that supra above