I am repainting my boat above the waterline along with the deck and dash. Red is the base with black stripes (keeping original paint scheme). Im doing a lot of the prep work myself and having my body shop (heavy duty trk dealership) do the rest. We always use PPG products but my body shop manager have never painted anthing other than automovive and i was just wanting to get an idea if there is anything a little more durable than regular automotive? The sides are still original gel and the deck has already been painted base/clear and looking to do a base/clear on everything. Also, is there a good primer sealer for the gel or recommendations. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks, MIKE

Automotive is what you should also use on your boat, they are very high quality finishes and unless you are looking for some specialty finish like Awlgrip your better off something from PPG or the like. Prime and seal with DP-74-LF (i believe thats the red one) Its an epoxy sealer from PPG that works great on gel, be sure to thin it slightly with DT reducer. I would only spot seal any body work to keep millage down. Sand the whole thing down with 320 and shoot an adhesion promoter on it prior to paint. Base/clear in the PPG line is DBC base coat and DCU2021 for clear. If you want to save a few coins on the red base, which will be close to four hundred a gallon, you can get the basecoat in the Omni or Shopline from PPG as well and it will be right around one fifty a gallon or less. Its still great stuff to, they cut the OEM matching out of that line to cut cost and it is perfect for complete resprays.

Agree

Thanks, that was waht i was looking for. MIKE

Also wondering what paint code of red any of you guys would recommend?? Tough question, i know. There are sooo many different ones just wondering what red stands out, if any, above the rest on a boat. Thanks

Personally, I am not a fan of red on a boat, but it is your boat, just pick whatever you like best.

If this boat wasnt unique as it being the first Saber made i probably would go with white with graffics instead of red, mostly because of how high maintence red is. Im trying to keep it original looking though.

Your right on just picking one and going with it, i was just curious if anybody had a favorite that they would recommend for this boat, that all.

Well,

If you are stuck with red, then I would polish up a spot so that you can tell the original color, and get as close as possible to that, especially if your not going to paint the bottom. Oh, and if your worried about the high maintenance of red, then definitely clear it, that will cut down on the maintenance a lot.

I dont like the reds that look orangey.maybe a Viper red?