Painting a jetski. Lots of questions.

dj19885.0

Recruit
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
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2
I am about to take another shot at painting. (did my first complete repaint on my mustang about 2 years ago.) I am going to do my 1987 kawasaki standup jetski. I have a 5x5 inch hole to repair in the front (lol, i know). I am going to fiberglass that, sand it close, then use a bondo over that. (I have both evercoat z-grip bondo and polyflex glazing putty left over. Which should I use? Or should I use resin jelly?) I will also use it to fill the scratches and gouges elsewhere. I am thinking I want to try to do stripes and pinstripe around them also.

- My question is what steps to do with this project? I was thinking after the bondo and repairs to sand smooth with 320 and use a sealer.

- With the stripes - Can I shoot the whole thing with base, then let dry and tape them up, shoot those, let dry, pinstripe, and then clear over everything. Will that work?

- Products - I want to go as cheap as possible with this project so what products are recommended for that. I have 2qts of dupont nason clear left over from my car. I REALLY don't want to waste it, it was $$$$$, LOL. Can I use this with another brand base?

- Also, do I NEED to worry about using something special under the waterline like gelcoat or will autobody stuff work? The ski never "sits" in the water.

I do have some autobody experience on my own car. I did a little write-up on my cardomain here if you are curious: http://cardomain.com/ride/2250733

O yea, the nasty fiberglass repair in the pics was done in about 10 mins a year ago just so I could ride it again. I just layered some fiberglass underneath it and am currently trying to sand all that nasty crap off the top. Yea, its going to take a while to fix that!

Here is my progress so far (just getting started):

Before:
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2781261704_75d83f92b3.jpg


Current:
2781262384_8bb5e758c5.jpg

2781263018_8cc070794a.jpg


THANKS!!!!
 

Joe_the_boatman

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
482
Re: Painting a jetski. Lots of questions.

I'm not familiar w/ those fillers you listed. I mixed epoxy w/ fillers to make a putty, and faired with that. Bondo (regular bondo) doesn't do well w/ water.

Auto paint should be fine for the bottom. I'd paint it white (same color as the gelcoat) so scratches won't be so noticeable.
 

dj19885.0

Recruit
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
2
Re: Painting a jetski. Lots of questions.

I am not going to paint the underneath (horizontal portion) because it is just going to get all scraped up again, but I will be painting under the seam where it is vertical (currently white).
 

ondarvr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
Re: Painting a jetski. Lots of questions.

Many PWC's are made with a filled resin that is difficult to bond to with polyester resin, so you should use epoxy for the repair. Instead of bondo use micro balloons mixed into the epoxy and automotive paint will work fine.
 
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