I want to spray the topside of my 87 ranger with Imron MS1 clearcoat with a binks style sprayer. I know I have to sand the glass with no finer than 320 and wipe the surfaces down with quickclean.  Air temps should be 75 degrees or higher and the humidity should be below 80 percent or lower. Anyone else refinished their boat by spraying clear coat? Am I missing anything? Any tips or advice? I have never painted a boat or car before. I realize it will be a lot of work and I am up for the job.

The boat finish is really dull. I have experimented with rubbing compounds and polishes, and wet sanding, it really didn't make much improvement. When the hull is wet it looks good. I have though about vertglass, but the Imron sounds like it will last longer.

I've never used Imron MS1 so I went to Duponts web site to double check the sanding grit, 320 seems awful course and is going to leave sanding marks in your finished clear coat big time.  Not sure where you got you the 320 grit recommendation from but Dupont says the final top coat finish should be 800 grit before spraying the Clear coat.

If I was going to recoat it with anything other than gel coat, I would use Awlgrip.  It has great UV protection and it's about the next toughest stuff to gel coat. 

However, Awlgrip is also ungodly expensive and very hard to apply.  I've done one boat Awlgrip and two that I've re-gel coated.  Neither one of the process are much fun and not for a beginner.

You are going to have to be very careful after you clear coat it, it chips very easily and once chiped, they want to grow on you.

My previous boat had been clear coated by the previous owner.

It didn't last and honestly, for the work involved the short time span that the stuff adheres isn't worth the time or effort.  I don't think it went 3 years before it started flaking everywhere. 

Thanks for the info guys. On another site it was recommended to use 320 to rough up the surface before applying the clear. It didn't make any sense to me either. I am not going to do that. Dupont MS1 is a marine grade clear that had a lot of positive feedback. It was reported that if you keep your hull trailered, it lasted for 7+ years with no flaking or peeling. Most of the flaking problems reported occured on hulls that were left floating storage at docks. I will research the Awlgrip clear. Superior UV protection is definately a plus. With either brand, surface preparation will be the key. I will probably go ahead and paint the topsides and I will post before and after pictures.

thanks again.

Try VertGlas http://www.vertglas.com/index.html

It did wonders on my boat.

When you wet sanded did you start with aggressive grit (320), work down to finer grit(600-1000) and then follow that with rubbing compound?  I found McGuires Rough Cut Oxidation Remover to be better than rubbing compound.  I have had good success on badly oxidized gel coat using this method.  I then followed that with BTS (several coats over a couple of months). 

The sanding process will leave the gel coat dulled and scratched, the rubbing compound works out the scratches and gives it a glaze again.