So I decided to do a cheap paint job on my old boat. (Yes I know this isnt the "proper" way to go about repainting a boat) however this boats a bit old now and no reason to spend hundreds getting it re gelcoated. My objective was to just clean up the look a little bit and get her looking okay. Anyway I used a hard enamel marine paint in black. I sanded the surface with 180 grit and made sure I got good sanding coverage to ensure the paint stuck. I then cleaned and prepped the surface with paint thinner and wax, grease, dirt, etc solvent. From there I used a one stage marine enamel. However I did thin it down a bit. Unfortunately I didnt spend enough time calculating the mixer of thinner vs paint. I basically thinned until I got the paint to spray how I wanted. (Tested on a scrap piece of metal) I did 5 coats in total. The first coat was a mist coat
. 20-30mins later I followed with another heavier coat to get coverage but not complete coverage. This second coat I aimed to slightly see the original color. I let this dry overnight because it's a 1 stage and wanted to make sure the first few layers got time to dry and cure. I then proceeded to lay 3 more coats heavier than the 2nd coat. However this time I allowed the paint to have 1.5-2 hours of dry time between coats. Once I finished the last coat I let everything cure for about a week. I then wet sanded with 2000 grit and then buffed it out with Maguire's. For a $40 paint job I'm very pleased especially since I painted it outdoors and not in a shop. I've always wondered how this paint would fair out and figured well this boats the perfect candidate to endure more test. I'll upload some better pics when I get the chance, this photo it's raining.