Anyone use or have comments on using traditional single stage automotive acrylic urethane in the bilge. Summit has a line that's reasonably priced as well as a few others online. I've used Valspar many times in years back to paint engines, outdrives accessories and it cured very hard and had a powder coat appearance. Seems to me it would work well in the bilge as well.

I know there's Awlgrip and Imron which are certainly up to the task but is it necessary? There's no UV concern in an engine compartment just needs to stick and put up with regular spills and cleaning. I keep my bilge spotless as it is so anything that would get on it wouldn't be there for long but considering the amount of cleaning I do I was wanting something that would resist the regular dirt, fluids and other contaminants and clean up good as new with basic cleaners like simple green, dawn dishwashing liquid etc.

I've got PPG concept single stage acrylic urethane in my bilge.
Hard as a rock and shines nicely.
I expect it to hold up over time.

How long has it been in service and how did you apply it?

Rustoleum and the hardener.

I have replied to a 100 threads on this subject so forgive me for sounding like a broken record.

F-onscreen name recommendation seems to be a common answer from experience on here , and he has quite bit experience under his belt.

I don't know the price of the Rustoleum product

In the past I always did anything and everything with sherwin Williams Macropoxey. It's a 2 part one to one mixture sold in a minimum quantity of 2 gallons for about 170 bucks.

Bullet proof and bonds like crazy.

$35 a gallon from home depot and the Valspar hardener is like $15.
I know there is better but its been doing its job for 6+ years now in one boat for a lot less money.

How was the shine/ gloss on the Macropoxy? Sounds like a good candidate for it adhesion characteristics however the data sheet says semi-gloss, was thinking more of a gloss....

single stage acrylic urethane work very well.

It is a industrial paint that we used on metal parts for its durability and adhesion without a primer before I started using it on the boats.

It's very shiny and holds that shine.

I ended up purchasing single stage acrylic urethane from Summit Racing. Bought a gallon of "Pure White" with hardener (5 total quarts of material), for a little over $100 delivered to my door in 2 days. I sanded with a an electric DA and 60 grit to knock down high spots from existing gelcoat and used what was left of the worn DA paper to sand the inside corners by hand. Also bought a $30 electric die grinder from Harbor Freight and used it on some hard to get to inside corners that needed shaping. I did the job in multiple phases over several days, probably a total of 4 phases. In doing so I washed the sanded areas several times with dawn dish washing liquid and let it dry well before painting. i used a brush and it covered the 60 grit fine. Seemed to work best with one coat then a 2nd coat about an hour later. Didn't have any issues with the the following phases adhering to the previous phase.

In the sun it's almost blinding. The gloss is pretty good although the rough fiberglass texture prevents a fully reflective surface. I guess it's somewhere between gloss and semi-gloss. In a couple of hours the paint is dry to he touch and hard in 24 hours. I used a small electric heater under the boat cover to dry the bilge overnight and also keep the bilge warm overnight after painting to help the cure and prevent condensation and dew from forming in the morning since the boat is outside. That worked well.

Overall I'd say this is a pretty forgiving product as i probably sanded it wrong, washed it wrong and applied it wrong. None the less the paint appears be very hard, washes easy, and it took a week to wear off of my hands. I don't expect any adhesion issues.

Thanks to everyone that provided advice. In my opinion, bang for the buck, Summit automotive acrylic urethane is more than suitable for this application.
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Unfortunately the pictures don't do the final product justice, they were taken with a cell phone and look much better in person.