Just recently went through this- rockered my ski and painted it, had never touched fiberglass or sprayed paint before this
Epoxy resin and cabosil will work, although it can be tough to sand, some suggest microballons instead- I used total boat total fair 2 part filler for most fairing/filling, it was quick and easy to work with- very smooth sanding of you get it done before fully curing
What paint you use is gonna depend on "how far you want to take it", messing with automotive paint can get expensive to do it right. You really need a 30+ gallon compressor, half way decent gun and the proper filtration/drying system- moisture and oil in the line will destroy a paintjob and set you back days of labor. After spending hundreds of $$ on paint and a ton of hours sanding by hand I wasn't about to chance it.
Of course you don't have to buy high level stuff- I ended up building a copper pipe air/water separator setup, made a desiccant dryer out of a water filter and ran a sub micronic air filter at the end.
It really depends on how good you want it to look, you can get decent results with a harbor freight paint gun, single stage paint and a 20 gallon compressor
Due to its lower cost, I used tamco paint- their DTA epoxy primer and ended up going with their high build hp700 epoxy primer for the bottom of the ski after block sanding and breaking through the DTA primer (much lower build/thinner than the high build primer).
Next ski I will just use the HP700 high build, it fills in imperfections much better. Wasnt bad to sand, although I had to move down to 150 grit sandpaper before moving on to 220, 320, 400
Used their black base, 3 coats, probably used around 1.5 quarts, I did a large test panel and some other parts as well and wasted a bit
Used their Intercoat clear for mixing in the chameleon pearl powder
Ended up using 1 quart of clear coat, went with their Hi-impact clear due to it being recommended for marine use.
I had never painted before this, but I found their products pretty forgiving (and they ship quick)- I just followed the basics and all the info sheets to the letter and everything came out pretty good...took a while since I was learning on the fly, but YouTube is an amazing resource
Channels I found helpful for paint:
Welcome to the #1 Paint Channel on YouTube tailored for both the DIYer and Paint Professional! On this channel you will find many videos on the complete pain...
www.youtube.com
Let's learn together the SprayWay !!!!
www.youtube.com
https://www.youtube.com/c/eastwood (Kevin Tetz vids specifically)
Hey! Tony B Richie here and thanks for checking out my channel. If you want to learn how to paint and customize cars, you're at the right place. All of my vi...
www.youtube.com
Spray painting for beginners. We show you how to fix and paint your ride on a tight budget or a loose budget, in your back yard or in a spray booth. I also d...
www.youtube.com
Fiberglass:
Repairing boats for a living is what I do. Fiberglass, gelcoat, paint and woodworking are my specialties. Basically if it deals with making a boat look it's ...
www.youtube.com
