I do my own work on my
boat so getting a nice job has to be balanced against hours.
My 38 footer was sprayed at first and I almost cried when it was done. The lovely painted finish showed every imperfection in my prep. So about 5 years ago I gave the topsides a repaint and did them with a roller - no tipping.
I have a friend who swears by roll and tip and he can do a nice job, but I can see the streaks, whereas I am happy with my roll and re-roll technique. Roll on to get the paint on, roll lightly over to get smooth. It leaves you with a slight orange peel which is fine by me. Especially if you are about to
head off cruising. I don;t get worried by a
dinghy or
kayak coming alongside.
As to prep - I like a high build
epoxy primer - Wattyl Epinamel HB in
Australia. This gets rolled on over the spot fills in any dings. Then put on a mist coat - a
cheap black paint - wiped on with lots of thinners or a black powder. Then sand with 120 then 180 to get rid of all of the black. You now have a nice surface to paint on.
Then I like a non-linear
polyurethane - Poly U 400 is an
acrylic polyurethane that can be recoated and buffed. Linear is much trickier in this instance. It gives you the wet look but personally I avoid that unless I have spent months fairing the whole boat - and booked a spray painter.
If you are just doing the topsides and large flat sections, you are laughing. Probably 8ish days of working for two - two days sand existing paint and fill holes. 2 days mask and paint primer, 2 days mist coat and sand primer, 2 days tape and roll and roll Poly on. Good
weather and good workers permitting. (I never had the helper though).
Spraying is so nice on curves and convoluted objects. I have a little petrol driven
compressor and sprayed the
interior (oh what a job - with flattener because I had enough of fairing) and the cabintop. But spraying the
deck and cabintop and
cockpit will be a huge amount of time. Even the stern steps could take as long as one
hull if you decide to do there.
Buy Russ Brown's book and use the paint he uses. He is a guru who does lovely work and really knows he stuff.
Instruction on rolling paint without tipping for spray like results...
cheers
Phil