Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Ok I've wanted to do this since the day we bought the boat. Now that the new outer strakes are finally welded on I jumped into the paint project lol. I can't wait to see it in the sun ! It's supposed to be 80 this weekend and between the lock down junk and rain here in Michigan I'm ready lol. I still have a bunch of work yet but this gives you guys an idea. The polished parts look really good against the dark paint!

That is beautiful.

That looks damn nice Man!

Thanks guys, I had painted logs on my last boat. It was a old rebuild made new but loved the paint. My boat is a trailer boat spends no more than a week a year floating and this one actually less with the sea legs. Anyway the painted logs look good and are super easy to keep clean. I just wipe them down with vinager water when needed.

That looks great! I've thought of wrapping my logs, but I bet this is a lot more durable. Nice job!

It's funny you mention the wrap. I almost did the inside of one of the logs just to see if it would hold up. I decided that I've done the paint once and I know it holds up so might as well stick with what I know lol.

Really nice!

Jeepers! That looks awesome. I'm green with envy. Mind telling us what you used for paint/primer/technique?

So I finally got to hit the water with the newly added outter strakes and paint. I got lots of compliments on the paint but the strakes made it possible. That's the perfect breaking point for the paint while sitting on the trailer. Looks like I'm going to need a new prop. I'm turning 6300 rpms almost instantly. My speed was only 37 MPH , but my boat is heavy and has sea legs hanging below. Pretty sure I can get at or above 40 with a new prop. My boat had the max hp already so I'm kinda stuck with where I am.

The pic at the ramp is just plain mean and sexy...almost doesn't even look like a pontoon

Looks amazing

Damn.... those black toons look sharp as hell.. Great job.

Any details on your paint process?

What was the prep?

Automotive base/clear shot with a spray gun?

Paint in a can and brushed/rolled on?


You don’t think this will crack/chip/peel off down the road and be a nightmare that you have to use stripper to get it all off and redo?

gerard143 wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:41 pm

Any details on your paint process?

What was the prep?

Automotive base/clear shot with a spray gun?

Paint in a can and brushed/rolled on?


You don’t think this will crack/chip/peel off down the road and be a nightmare that you have to use stripper to get it all off and redo?

Nope not at all, I did the same thing to my last boat. It held up perfect for 9 years before I sold the boat. The only place it was scuffed was on the bottom of the nose cones where I beached it. That problem is solved with the sea legs! Trust me I would not do this to a new boat if I didn't know it would work.

The paint is the Rust-Oleum marine system. Their paint and aluminum primer. Same as I used on my previous boat. Yes it was rolled on because spraying a assembled boat isn't an option . Prep is everything. There was a scuffing of the aluminum first then sanding between each coat.

The paint was thinned to increase the flow and a enamel harder was added to speed up the dry time and greatly increase the durability of the paint. It also adds gloss. I didn't kill myself to get a show car finish but it's possible. There is a bunch of information about painting cars with similar methods. If you were to sand with 2000 grit after you can get a better than factory finish!

Over on the pontoonstuff forum I have detailed instructions from when I painted my last boat. It's located in the "tips and tricks" section I believe.