Refurb 1997 GTS - Painting opportunity

[rauten]

New to the forum and that I didn’t know existed. Awesome site with a lot of talent around that I wish I had. I can only change the battery and spark plugs. My brother and I have twin 1992 GTS models with mechanical issues. The bodies are in excellent shape. We also have a 2001 GTX. My brother has someone to at least potentially get one of the 1992's running.

We ran across twin 1997 GTS models with low hours but have exterior sun fading. We have a minimal budget in making these new again. We are attempting to paint the items listed below; we are tired of the purple.

Front seat assembly & seat – vinyl – paint gray – we will recover if the paint does not work.
Steering column cover – vinyl – paint blue
Bumper – rubber & with plastic strips? – paint black ---- I need a bumper strip insert for 1 Doo.
Side sponson (2) – plastic – paint black
Carpet pads (3) – rubber – paint black or blue
Grab handle – plastic – paint blue
Hood – fiberglass – my brother has someone to do – blue
Gas cap – plastic – paint blue

Do I have the items listed correctly (plastic, rubber, vinyl)?

Products to be considered – SEM paint products, Krylon Fusion, Dupli-Color. Not sure yet about the bumper..???

Regarding decals; we plan to remove decals. Any ideas as to where to get decals reasonably priced. Saw some on eBay (SEA DOO red for sure), but not GTS specific for this model. It really doesn’t matter as we just want to fill the voids.

Thank you guys, I really would appreciate the input, suggestions, ideas and/or lessons learned.

 

[seadoosnipe]

Jet ski graphics....

I have been working with a guy named Peter. He's the owner of jetskidetailing.com

I had hoped he might invest in advertising on the forum, we are still working with that.

He has some awesome graphics for really decent prices. Like you, I needed a "seadoo" graphic for my GTX and the price was way out of my league.

Painting fiberglass is not hard. But, to get it to look awesome takes the right kind of paint and good experience. What I've done in the past to bring out my paint was, go buy a compound buffer and some good rough cut compound. Use this buffer and compound and grind this stuff in really good. Buff it out to a luster and you'll notice a really decent shine. Then, come back with some good polish.......

When you check out these graphics, tell them you were sent from the Seadooforum. Good luck! If you get the graphics, make sure you send us a pix to see how well they came out.......

 

[sblack56]

I have the same question related to the steering cover. Is there a paint that will stick to the cover? The "chalky" stuff on the surface makes me think that successful painting will be difficult. The comment above is absolutely correct. Buffing the gel coat yields AMAZING results in bringing the finish back to life. I bought my first Seadoo early last season, 1998 GTI, Caught the "bug" and by the end of the season had 3! Added to my "fleet" when I picked up a 1997 GTX and a 1996 SPI on a dual trailer. My sons and I have had a blast working on them, changing fuel lines, rebuilding carbs, repairing gell coat damage on hull, etc. This forum has been a FANTASTIC help. I tell all my friends interested in used skis to go with Seadoo due to this forum and the availability of information online.

 

[LouDoo]

It depends, reminds me of a joke, but I better not post it.

Seriously, it depends on the nature of the plastic, last year I painted the gauge cover and handlebar cover of my 96GSX. I used Krylon Fusion, but the plastic was hard with no texture. If it's a soft plastic and has texture I wouldn't paint it. BTW the graphics are by Dr Honda.

Lou

 

[Spimothy Leary]

krylon fusion is a good product, i have several colors in my cabinet and they've been applying well and holding up just fine, actually they've held up much better than I thought they would !

never ordered a replacement sticker set,,, was always too costly, i generally peel off all stickers that are bad, wet sand and fill the voids with various stickers, SBT, Blacktip, worx, etc, 3 or 4 well placed sickers per side will do the trick.

not sure what carpet pads are ... the turf ?
not sure if those will hold up to paint... at all. better to replace imo
rub rails WILL take paint, but the minute you bump into something you'll see spots of the original color underneath, so its not durable, but it will look good at first if the rails are black a heat gun and an aplicationof meguiars natural shine might do the trick, (natural shine has brought back some ugly sponsons as well)

Lou ! those graphics look pretty nice, now i'll have to pm the doc cuz i'm curious on pricing.