Painting a Boat!

I did this at TechShop Menlo Park's automotive area! http://www.techshop.com
If you get a chance to get your boat out of water, you may as well give it a new look by painting it. I choose the color pink! 

Using a razor blade, scrape off any unwanted stickers. If you're removing your registration digits, make sure to write them down somewhere so you'll remember when you need to vinyl cut them again. 

Using a rotatating electric sander and a hard grit disk sand the surfaces in preparation for painting. Sand down enough to remove unwanted dirt, bumps and sticker remnants but don't go too deep as to damage the fiberglass underneath. Boat paint can contain toxic chemicals so do wear a particulate mask and some goggles. A respirator is suggested but a heavy duty mask works well too.

Using blue painters tape, tape off any areas you want to protect from the paint. 

Depending on how long you're planing to keep your boat this color and how much money you happen to have, you'll choose the paint you want to use. Use either two part epoxy, which is very expensive and most durable, one-part epoxy which is slightly less durable or you can also use straight outdoor grade glossy paint. It will look fine for a couple of years before the sun and salt water start to wear and tear into it.  You can use rollers or brushes and apply as many coats as you can letting them dry in between.

Wash your brushes and let the paint dry before pulling the tape off.