My 208 is a 1997. The dash looked terrible (as most of this vintage do). I've previously tried painting but that didn't work well. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a cosmetic fix either for an old boat. This season I decided to do a test with bed liner paint.
1st step was to remove the existing material - don't know what it was but it seemed to be some sort of painted or sprayed-on rubber. It was a nightmare to remove.
2nd step was to repair the holes and cracks in the plastic. I wish I had taken more pics but it was actually pretty easy. Amazon sells plastic repair kits (basically a soldering iron with a wide flat head and some plastic rods) for ~$25. I had one large hole and was missing the broken piece of plastic so I added a mesh screen back and filled the hole with epoxy. It's as if the panel was never broken.
Finally, I painted on 2 coats of durabak bed liner. I wish I had gotten the non-textured kind but I was afraid the non-textured would telegraph all of the bumps and scratches in the plastic.
I only painted one panel to see how it lasts for the season but I'm optimistic. I don't think it looks great (although better than what it looked like before). If it holds up, I'll probably try to remove it or sand it down and re-do with the non-textured stuff (probably a different color too!). I think this could be a good durable, easy option to fix the crappy pink stuff. Better color, less texture would probably look very good.
I might also try painting a test directly over the existing pink stuff on another panel - avoiding the removal process would save a ton of time and aggravation.
1st step was to remove the existing material - don't know what it was but it seemed to be some sort of painted or sprayed-on rubber. It was a nightmare to remove.
2nd step was to repair the holes and cracks in the plastic. I wish I had taken more pics but it was actually pretty easy. Amazon sells plastic repair kits (basically a soldering iron with a wide flat head and some plastic rods) for ~$25. I had one large hole and was missing the broken piece of plastic so I added a mesh screen back and filled the hole with epoxy. It's as if the panel was never broken.
Finally, I painted on 2 coats of durabak bed liner. I wish I had gotten the non-textured kind but I was afraid the non-textured would telegraph all of the bumps and scratches in the plastic.
I only painted one panel to see how it lasts for the season but I'm optimistic. I don't think it looks great (although better than what it looked like before). If it holds up, I'll probably try to remove it or sand it down and re-do with the non-textured stuff (probably a different color too!). I think this could be a good durable, easy option to fix the crappy pink stuff. Better color, less texture would probably look very good.
I might also try painting a test directly over the existing pink stuff on another panel - avoiding the removal process would save a ton of time and aggravation.
Attachments
-
IMG_0682.jpeg -
IMG_0683.jpeg -
IMG_0686.jpeg
