Help with topside paint repair

[malyea]

Somehow managed to scrape my painted topside (...plz don't ask...) and would like to repaint/repair/touch-up without repainting the entire topside or hauling -out.

Do I just - sand down/feather the scraped paint edges - apply multiple coats of topside paint - finish sand to smooth - and wax....???

I know the PO had the topsides painted and it appears there's not any gel coat to speak of - just paint on top of fiberglass. The fiberglass is not gouged...the paint is just scrapped off...

 

[tomgrigsby]

Bummer. I've done something similar and haven't fixed it yet. (disclaimer; I'm not an expert, though I've painted a couple of cars.) I can confirm that you will indeed have to fair the rough edges completely smooth. If you can feel them, you'll see them in the finished paint. Regarding painting recommendations, hopefully the experts will weigh in.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

I replied to this in another thread. You must've posted it twice.

 

[malyea]

Thanks, I found it.

 

[malyea]

After a fair amount of research, here's the plan...

This is a normal repair for a car. Virtually all automotive paints are repairable and most are blendable.
Check some autobody forums to learn more about these types of repairs, but here are the basics.
Clean the entire area with wax, grease, and silicone remover.
Sand down the gouge with 80 grit, keep it feathered out.
Fill the gouge.
Sand down the repair with 40 and then 80 keeping all your scratches in a small area.
Sand the entire abraded area with 150 and then sand a couple inches farther out with 320.
Prime over all of the 80/150 scratches keeping ALL of the primer inside the area of the 320 scratches.
Sand the primer and the 320 scratches with 400 wet.
Sand 6-8" around the 400 with 1000.
Clean again with wax and grease remover.
Tack rag.
Paint, keeping all of the paint inside of the 1000 grit scratches. When you paint, put the first coat covering just the primered area, the second an inch farther out, the third another inch farther out, tapering the edges on each coat.
Let the paint dry for 24 hours.
If it's really rough sand first with 1000, then 1200, then 1500 and polish.
Any decent autobody store will have a dupont camera that they can bring out to your boat and take a picture of the paint and the computer will match it for you.
You'll be doing all of your shopping at the autobody store here, the boat stores won't have all of what you need.

 

[kloudie1]

Ya got it.. tedious but if done correctly, it will be a fine repair! Normal paint repair..

 

[KD3PC]

I have posted elsewhere, and as it sounds as if you have made up your mind in spite of many suggesting that this is anything but a simple repair, best of luck. Let us know how it works out.