Got My Old Boat Back! Needs Paint/Carpet. Need Advice

[max power]

I recently purchased back my 1st boat. I sold it to a friend 3 years ago and he was having trouble with the motor and lost intrest in it so he sold it back to me cheap. I picked up a 10hp Honda 4 stroke from the 80's for it that runs great and now I'm ready to paint the boat. It's a 77 fiberglass Lund that some one brushed on some ugly olive color with an unknown type of paint. The bottom coat is in good shape and the olive paint is solid so I'm thinking I can scuff up the top coat with a sander and then put on a primer and then pait? I'm not sure what kind of paint to use so I need some advice on that. I don't have a sprayer so I will be roll painting it, sides and part of bottom. I'm not looking for a A+ job, just something better than whats on it.
I want to redo the carpet also, any advice with this would help me out but I think if I pull the old carpet and glue on some new marine carpet will do?

[earplug]

Go fish

[albow]

Originally Posted by earplug

Go fish

Exactly.

Fish now, paint later!

[Bionic Man]

Looks like a fun project. About 8 years ago, I restored an old Lone Star 12' boat. Wish I remembered what type of paint I used. What I do remember is going into a Kwal paint store and telling them about the project and they steered me in the right direction.

I painted the trailer and the boat, and I didn't use a primer or scuff up the paint. Kept the boat for probably 3 years after, and it held up well.

You will love that Honda motor. I have had a number of them. They are quiet, reliable, and sip fuel. The only downside, especially on a boat that size, is their weight. It seems they are quite a bit heavier than aa comparable 2-stroke.

Good luck with the restore.

[lvrider]

fish dont care what it looks like. its prime time right now.

[fishinlooney]

cool boat. Nice layout with plenty of fishing room. sorry I don't have any ideas about the paint. Have fun with the restoration. Let me know if you need help with that older Johnny/Rude to get it running, I love working on those older motors.

[slayerfish]

New carpet? Its just gonna get all slimed up anyway-

[KTaylor]

I just did a restore on a similar boat.

Personally, I would wait till fall to paint because most paints recommend waiting 2-3 months before putting it on the water after painting.

I researched a lot of different types of marine coatings and decided to go with rustoleum. Awl grip and Interlux are probably better paints but they are 2-3 times the price.

http://www.rustoleum.com/product-cat.../topside-paint

I ordered 2 quarts of the primer and 4 quarts of the topside paint from home depot for around $125. This gave me 2 coats of prime and 3 coats of paint.
Now, I did use a sprayer but rustoleum recommends using a roll and tip method.(google it) If using a roller use a foam roller for a smooth finish.

I fixed all my cracks with a fiberglass resin kit from Lowes and then rotary sanded with 220. Wiped clean with xylene and then sprayed on my first coat of primer. I wet sanded lightly by hand with 600 between coats, the paint is self leveling but I did get some "orange peel" which the wet sanding helps. I then again wiped clean with xylene and applied the second coat of primer and repeated this process through each coat of paint. After the second coat of paint I bumped up too 1200 sandpaper but did not wet sand the final coat.

After a week the paint was still very soft but now after a few months is fairly hard.

Good luck, its a nice looking rig. If you need anymore advice feel free to contact me. I have a good method of getting the boat off the trailer to paint the bottom if that becomes and issue.

[Bronco]

Truck Bed stuff would look cool.

[max power]

I've decided to hold off on painting the boat, good advice to just get it on the water now and paint later. Don't want to miss out on fishing time just for painting a boat.
I'll just redo the carpet and some other little things for now.