painting advise

lads looking for a bit of advise as this is the my 1st time doing it. I have stripped the paint on my fibreglass boat down to the original paint job, can i just paint over this with a marine paint or do I have to use undercoat/primer first, or would I have to strip this down to the actual fibreglass, i will just have the boat in the water for june - sept. cheers sparks

I wouldn't sand down beyond the gel coat!
Once you have removed the old paint and given the gel coat a "key" decent paint like Toplac should be fine without an undercoat. It all really comes down to what you have when you are finished removing/sanding - if the surface is smooth or rough. A primer may give you a better finish.
Are you spraying or brushing?

Roger de Doger would have boat painting skills par excellance!

Hey Jim, I am brushing the area is very smooth. I am totally new to this what do you mean by a "key"

"key" = Light sanding with fine paper to give the new paint something to stick to.

Are you painting the outside or inside? I don't know where your based, but it might be worth a trip into your local chandlers for some advice as well. Get your sandpaper and bits in your hardware store though.

Another option would be to get a quote for a professional job. If you were to do all the sanding and prep work yourself and a profession was to do the spray / painting job, you would save a few quid on the labour and get the result your looking for.

Kev

When painting fiberglass with one-part paint I use "international pre-kote" primer as it makes a chemical bond to the fiberglass, start by sanding with 80 grit paper and then wipe down with acetone and add the first coat of primer when that is dry sand with 220 grit paper and add the next coat and sand again with 220 grit I use a variable speed orbital sander but if you are hand sanding use a block and lots of water then wash the boat and let dry trying not to put your on it as any contaminants can affect the finish. When painting I use the roll and tip method roll out the paint about 2'x2' and then run a dry clean brush along it to burst any bubbles and remove any lines when dry sand with 220 wet and then wash ready for another coat or two if needed. If you want a perfect finish next you need to sand with 800 then 1200-1500 and 2000 then use rubbing compound to clean it up.

thanks lads for all the advice I got it all done and it looks really well, thank god for electric sanders. Heres to a safe and happy summers fishing

sparks