painting a nautique

Does anyone have any experince on what type of paint to spray on a boat that will last. I have a 69 Nautique that I would like to bring back to life. Also the wood chins on the side of the hull how difficult are they to remove for refinishing or is it worth taking them off.

I'm definitely with Tom, in trying to wet sand and compound it first to see if there's any life left in the gelcoat. It's quite a bit of hard work, but nothing beats seeing that old finish come back to life. That original gelcoat is many times thicker and a lot more forgiving to trial and error than painted finishes, such as on a car.

As for that wooden spray rail at the chine, I removed some rotted ones recently and what a pain. It was screwed/fastened from BOTH the inside and outside and obviously installed before the floor went in, so accessing the inner screws is difficult without removing adjacent flooring and foam. I ended up cutting them off from the outside as I had no plans in going beneath the floor level. I've yet to replace the wood, but I did caulk the holes and put the boat in the water for a quick ride and verified quickly why they were installed originally. Very wet.    

if you are just going to fix the deck, spray it with gelcoat instead of paint. spraying gelcoat is just labor intensive to get chewing gum to come out to a shine. minicraft.com (donald) sells materials and a gallon will cover 80 sq ft if you can get an even thickness. you might pay someone to spray it and sand it yourself. ask board member marc diller his recommendations. i am just a novice.

rubrails.com (alan) sells stainless and aluminum rail. shipping kills on the 20' length.

try classic boat connection for the lower seal.

thanks kenny. i am going to order one for the 60.

how is canada on paints and chemicals? can that stuff be shipped over the border?

Ken thanks for the info on the windshild trim I will call them tomorrow. I was thinking about IMRON I live on the U.S border at the northern tip of Michigan so its just a matter of a 5 minute drive to pick anything. The black on the boat in the photo looks like a mint job hats off to the man on the gun. Two winters ago I built a 20' ceader strip sea kayak 500hrs and 5 months work not sure which project will be more difficult I think the sound of the duals will pay off.