For those in the process of repainting the Outboard

[Dave LeGear]

Years ago I had to redo the Honda cowl and even though covered when not on the water and paint sealant used on it a lot... It still faded and looked old and worn out. To be quite frank, the factory Honda paint job (at least for M/Y 2004) was just not ready for Florida

So I took it off and ran it down the local auto body shop to have a quality Marine / Salt Water environment paint job done that matched the OEM color. And if I am not mistaken, the cowl was repainted in 2009. What was a shock, was the cost to replace the factory stickers which I did setting down in the living room one night. Another tedious job in it's own right since I wanted it perfect and look as if the Factory had installed them

Now I have discovered while doing some research for a friend of mine who is talking about redoing his on his own, two products that should help with such

One is paint kits that you can get from the Outboard Paint Shop down in South Florida:
https://store.theoutboardpaintshop.com/paint-kits/

The other is new stickers for the cowling:
https://garzonstudio.com/outboard-decals.html

Personally I think they (Garzon) did a pretty good job on the Flag decals

 

[Dave LeGear]

Speaking of surface prep, here is a video I found that shows those steps in detail. Now I am not sure I would try and save the original decals, but that is going to depend upon...

• The condition of your present ones and how faded they are?
• Your ability to mask them off (like the tip about pressing down on them) and clean up any over-spray afterwards, without bugging up your new paint job
  
• Time versus money always comes into play, and the link above on the Garzon Studio decal set will give you a good price point comparison.

Good tips though on a way to freshen up your cowling, on a budget

 

[Dave LeGear]

Another good video on the subject with some rough costing, for those who would like to have it professionally done

 

[Harper]

Not sure what happened, but a few years ago, I used the ColorRite brand of paint to do the lower unit of my Suzuki. Prepped, sanded, used their primer, their paint and their clearcoat. All went well until the clearcoat. Don't know if the clearcoat is a laquer or what, but it acted just like spraying laquer over enamel. The whole job wrinkled up. Was more than a bit perturbed to find that ColorRite's own products weren't compatible with each other.

 

[NCangler]

Great information and links guys! I need to repaint the cover on a 60hp Suzuki.

 

[Push&Pull]

I don't know if I'm just lazy or smart or a typical guy. I have not yet painted my outboard cause the more dull it looks, it reminds me how old it is and the need to repower.......(yeah, baby, oh oh oh oh, more power.)

But most likely, I'm just too lazy.......

 

[Dave LeGear]

Lazy... This from the same guy who has the most tricked out Triumph 210 in this part of the Solar System, yea right

 

[nocturn]

New cowling decal process...

 

[nocturn]

Right side done...

 

[nocturn]

All done...

 

[Dave LeGear]

Thanks for the Tips on how to better apply the decals Brother!

 

[Dave LeGear]

Some other Tips and Tricks for doing this at home...

And do feel free to post up Before and After pictures of yours