Fiberglass boat paint help

Good thing I asked

 

Start with 400 on the spots, maybe even 600 (wet), which will either clean them up for further buffing (no paint) or you'll "burn though" and need to paint or gelcoat. I'm a big fan of not making more work then you actually need to do, so see what you have first (buff the spots) as this might be all you need, before breaking out the grinder.

If you're set on a repaint, use 120 grit all over to provide a rough tooth. Smooth this off with 150 or 180 if you like and prime with a good quality primer. Sand the primer to 220, or 280 if you're really anal, before applying top coats. As previously mentioned a good primer will easily fill up 150 grit scratches, assuming enough coats (2 minimum, 3 or more if looking to fair a little too). Most over sand the crap out of their projects (too fine a grit), thinking it makes a better finish. Modern paints will lay down and fill most sins, so let the product do it's job and stick with 220 or 280, under the topcoat, knowing then 180 will fill up just fine too. It depends on how your elbows feel about it.

 

I spent more time dragging out and rolling up the extension cord than actually buffing this from my boneyard. The scratches would go away if I actually did a full wet sand and buff out.

If you are committed to painting, then read PAR's web page on fairing several times. How you sand now will be the deference between people asking:

Oh, was this the first time you tried to paint a boat.
Or
Wow! You must have paid a fortune to have your boat painted..

The proper technique used while sanding yields greater dividends than using too fine a grit.

 

Okay awesome thanks for the advice I will definitely This is a great forum everybody helpful n quick replies
Here is few pics of my boat I’m talking about
.

 

I will check it out on par page

 

Pressure wash and scrub the hell out of that puppy. Dark colors show every flaw, so a little effort can go a long way. If it's thin (gelcoat), well it's thin and you only have two choices. If it's not, you may be able to live with some of the flaws, given what you'll save in effort, putting a paint or gelcoat job on her. Simply put, pick your battles, as that looks like it'll need some other efforts, to get her wet again.

 

I see why you want the stripes.

I could see other discoloration on deck but my screen resolution isn't sufficient to diagnose.
Scrub and do a test buff then let us know how she looks.

Paul

 

Like they said, do all you can to make the current gel coat adequate before going further, then rethink it again.

 

I finally just got some decent weather where I’m from so I sanded it I haven’t found any decent paint I have rustoleum from the depot but I’m kinda sketchy to put it on I will post pics tomorrow as today’s ugly again.

 

Generally you get what you pay for with paints.

 

I paid $480 for two gallons of “brushable” awlgrip primer that has a 12 second wet edge time with the brush reducer at max. A fast wet edge, btw, fails to flow out, leaving lines and streaks and high and low areas. The boat looked worse after priming than prior.

Then I tried the topcoat with max reducer and it was still wet 8 hours later.

I’m calling it a paint soap opera.

Not trying to be combative with you; still frustrated with my “brushable” spray paint.

What a crock.

I am going to read some of your painting stuff later today.

I sanded most of the topcoat off after realizing the horrible primer work vividly.

Please noone quote that!

Do you have a white high build recommend Paul?

 

The paints I use are pretty specialized and not generally available at the retail level. I like Sterling and PPG stuff, but have used a lot of different things over the years. With most of these specialized paints, you do need to "get a feel" for what they like, unless you can provide near perfict environmental condisions. I had similar issues as you, when I seriously got into spray applications and I had to A/C the shop, get an appropriate compressor and different guns too. It's pretty rare to brush anything anymore for me, though occasionally small jobs tempt me, just to save the bother of cleaning up a gun or mask something off. Mostly I use Sterling epoxy primer. If I need a high build, I'll mix in some additives.