Re-gel coating my 1980's Banshee help!

[Techwing10]

Hi, i just recently purchased a 1980's Banshee MK II. It is mostly blue metalflake Gel coat paint based. You can clearly see that after many years, the part of the boat not covered by the cover has definitely lost a layer. (see pics) I would love to re-paint this. I have not the slightest clue what to do, and where to get the materials. I am very new to this so please try to be as specific as possible What do i have to do???
Thanks,
Connor

Note: I live in Ontario, Canada. Any Canadian companies would be perferable.

[vaporvette]

trying to color match that will be near impossible. I would paint the whole boat.

[Techwing10]

Hmmm, thats what I was kind of thinking. What would the best way to do this be? Myself? Professional? And what would I need exactley to do this? I would need to sand off the original paint wouldn't I?
Thanks!

[vaporvette]

I am painting my first boat as we speak so unless you have the same illness as me and want perfection out of everything you should just leave it. If you are bored and have extra money for a project than you should get plenty of good advice here on how to go about painting it. A professional job will cost more than finding a different boat with good paint.

[Techwing10]

Aha, you are completely correct, if I messed up, I would hate myself forever. I think I will leave it for now and work on more important things like my steering -_-. Thanks for your advice!

[PAR]

Painting a boat is fairly easy and the average guy can do a good job in his driveway. It's 90% prep, 10% actually painting. This will produce a roll and tip paint job that rivals a sprayed on paint job.

Once you add "fancy" stuff like monstrously large metal flakes, well then things get much more difficult. Other then a graduated fade paint job, the big metal flake job is about as difficult to do as they get. It has to be sprayed and only a very experienced painter should be trusted with this job and even he will have areas he doesn't like (variations in the density of the flakes), when it's done.

On the other hand a very stylish and eye catching paint job can be had by the novice painter if they're willing to forgo the flakes in favor of a "metallic" or regular paint. The metallic paints look like chrome, gold, silver, bronze as well as most of the major colors (just metalized). These of course are more difficult to apply well for the novice, but within the realm of a driveway job.

[Techwing10]

Wow, that seems alot more difficult then i thought, thanks for the info!

[Techwing10]

I am considering the "metallic" paint job. Would you happen to know what I would need exactly to finish my entire boat?
Thanks!

[PAR]

what I would need exactly to finish my entire boat?

Yes I do, but it would fill at least one possably two large volumes of text. This is a great place for tips, tricks, answers to specific questions, but not a good one for an education in surface prep and painting fundamentals. A book or two on the subject would be the best answer for you. Try the book store here.

[Techwing10]

Aha, Thanks, I will do some searching.