Picking up an extra boat this weekend (1548 quachita 35 evinrude and trailer for well under $1000) what are the proper steps to take to get a good finish that looks nice? Probably going to use parker khaki boat paint. Painting the trailer as well.

Hello!
When I was re-painting my boat I totally stripped it down to bare aluminum using air-craft stripper from auto-zone. Then once the paint had pulled away from the metal I used a pressure washer to take the paint off, and get most of the stubborn pieces. I went to the local NAPA auto parts and got about 5-6 rattle cans of grey primer for metal that the auto-body shop next door recommended and sprayed the entire boat down with it. Once it had time to dry and set up in the sun for a few days I followed it up with some Parker dead grass paint through a pneumatic spray gun. With only one coat and let it set up in the sun for a week (best to avoid any rain) I then cam back with a sponge brush and touched up the "high traffic) areas and places i had missed. I only did one coat but I dont really see a need, My paint has withstood many scratches that I was sure to be showing bare aluminum. Oh and I also coated the bottom with a truck bed liner type product to handle any hooks, Holes, and to take some of the punishment if I were to hit something.

The trailer was a breeze, I just stripped it down to parts used an angle grinder with a paint stripper that kinda looks like a hard sponge and a sanding wheel for the hard stuff. Really rusty pieces that were in good working order got a coat of Rust Reformer and then paint, and all bare metal pieces got a coat of white primer and then black paint.

Hope this helps! i have alot of pictures of my build in my signature, just click on the green text!

Awesome! Thanks alot I appreciate it.