Whats the best tape to use for masking off a painted area? I'll be painting stripes on the deck. The boat is outside on a lift, so I need tape that'll hold up to the hot sun and is removable after 2 - 3 days, allowing for primer and 2 coats paint. Oh yea, need something that can bend around a curve also.

Go to your local auto paint supplier. They'll have just what you need.

Ask for some "Fine line" tape. I think 3M makes it. You can use it for the very edge of your masking area where the paint will actually meet the tape. Its designed to be very thin to help the paint from peeling up when you remove it as well as contour to more round shapes without wrinkling etc

Also, The 3M green masking tap works great for what your asking. It does not leave behind any glue after it gets wet or left on for a while.

3M is the way to go, also make sure when you peel it off, do it about 5 minutes after you spray the paint so it is still soft but not wet also and peel the tape up and over the fresh paint. This will keep it from pulling the fresh paint over onto the area you were covering. Hope that made some sense to you and good luck.

Thanks for the info. Now, next stupid question. I plan to paint using Interlux, single stage paint. Going to use their primer (1 coat) and then the final product (2 coats). Total time from start to finish will probably be 3 days. Can I leave the tape in place from start to finish and does that cause any problems with "pulling" the paint when its removed?

Im kinda out of place on this one as I havent used any Marine type paints before but I would think your going to have quite the build up after all that. The green tape which would hold down your masking paper can usually stay on for a very long time without leaving any glue. But the fine line should be taken off while its just starting to flash. Maybe in a multi coat application it would be best to retape the fine line after each coat just a TAD bit farther than the last? If you leave the fine line in the same spot for all the coats, I would think your going to be left with a bit of an edge.