Boat painting

[aboos]

can anyone suggest a good place to take our boat to get painted? preferably somewhere in southern california. not looking for a super crazy paint job, just something simple. its a 17ft wellcraft and just needs a simple spray of white with some kind of design on the side. we were contemplating on doing it ourselves but decided that we would rather just take it some where and not worry about it. any recommendations? we've been looking online and found a few places but wanted to see if anyone where has any input. thanks.

[kelly k]

Aboos,

Can I suggest using self adhesive vinyl(decal material), you can apply it using the old model car method. Instead of dipping the decal in water, spray 409 on the surface where you want to place the sticker and position and squeegee, its easy to apply and clean without the mess of paint. There are places on the web that sell and makeup custom designs for about the same as paint.

[aboos]

yea, we thought of that but we actually want the whole boat painted. if we were just going to do a design then the decals sounds like a good idea. theres some dings and stuff that we want to bondo up also.

[kelly k]

There's an autobody place in Bellflower that has painted boats in the past, its called Kono's AB and the guys name is Bryan.

[pappi]

it may cost a pretty penny. i believe you need a gel coat for boats. i was told about 3000-$4000 for my 18.5 foot boat. but i may be wrong. just a heads up.

[aboos]

it may cost a pretty penny. i believe you need a gel coat for boats. i was told about 3000-$4000 for my 18.5 foot boat. but i may be wrong. just a heads up.

yea we initially wanted a new gel coat, but from talking to some people, they don't re-gel coat the boat. it only comes from the factory that way. and $3-4k is about right for a really good job. my uncle took his 21 foot jet boat to this place next to lake havasu and paid $3k. the paint job looks crazy good but way too much for me. we just need something simple.

[BingJr]

I work in the automotive refinish industry and the thing will be is that paint materials are very very expensive. California has instituted a water based paint requirement and water based paint is very expensive and requires expensive booths and dryers to make it happen. Enough of a good quality paint and clear coat to do a boat would probably be close to 800.00 in materials alone. Make sure you select a painter who is using a top notch paint and offers you some sort of paint warranty. The prep job is going to be the key element of getting you a product you would be happy with.

Good luck with the project and let me know how it turns out.

[aboos]

I work in the automotive refinish industry and the thing will be is that paint materials are very very expensive. California has instituted a water based paint requirement and water based paint is very expensive and requires expensive booths and dryers to make it happen. Enough of a good quality paint and clear coat to do a boat would probably be close to 800.00 in materials alone. Make sure you select a painter who is using a top notch paint and offers you some sort of paint warranty. The prep job is going to be the key element of getting you a product you would be happy with.

Good luck with the project and let me know how it turns out.

thanks bing, as soon as we find the right painter we plan on doing the prep work ourselves (at least as much as we can do). my uncle used to prep & paint cars as a side job so hopefully that will come in handy. just gotta start doing our homework.

[BingJr]

Dont spend too much $ preping the boat. Any painter who will offer a warranty on his work will want to prep the deal himself. Removing all of the necessary items for the paint will be a big benefit for the painter and save you some $ but primers and such must all compatible and you do not want to put materials on your boat that will have to be stripped or recoated to be painted.

[aboos]

Dont spend too much $ preping the boat. Any painter who will offer a warranty on his work will want to prep the deal himself. Removing all of the necessary items for the paint will be a big benefit for the painter and save you some $ but primers and such must all compatible and you do not want to put materials on your boat that will have to be stripped or recoated to be painted.

oh yea, i meant all the moldings, emblems, cleats, bondo up all the small cracks and holes from the rivets, etc.