Strip off all the upholstery, hardware, gauges, sand it with 80-120 grit, do any repairs with a simple product like MarineTex, smooth it all out, then you can either gelcoat it, AwlGrip paint it, or if you can easily paint it with oil based tractor paint as per the tutorial by
Woodonglass located here:
http://forums.iboats.com/foru...-w-pics/page16 (scroll down to post 238 if it doesn't do it for you)
Surely folks with a wealth of knowledge will follow up with more info. Personally I'd do the AwlGrip paint. On my project, I'm prepping to use the above tractor paint setup for my lower hull and I'll be spraying out the AwlGrip paint for my top cap/interior.