Outboard cowling respray

[Stansbo]

I’m trying to decide whether to get the cowling of my outboard resprayed with new decals applied or just order an OCA vented splash cover for it and hide the existing slightly rough looking paint.

Does anyone have experience of having a cowling sprayed and can give me some idea of cost? The OCA covers aren’t cheap so just trying to find the most cost effective option.

[User name]

You can do it at home for under 50ish quid. To get a pro job done and colour match it, it'll be more than double that.

If you have any places nearby that do crash repairs, you could get them to give it a going over on the cheap with whatever paint they have leftover on a job that resembles what you're looking for. If the cowl is a different colour to the rest of the outboard then you can get away with it not being a 100% colour match to the factory paint (if you can even get a factory colour code that is) and once the decals are on, it'll look very smart. My Mariner motor is actually some variety of Ford Fiesta silver but you'd never notice unless you had it side-by-side with another one.

[spartacus]

It’s very very difficult to do with spray cans. Even the genuine decals are expensive. Find a body shop that would consider doing it. I like the OCA skins, as long as they are tight on the cowl.

[HMJB]

I've had one done in the past by a guy who I've used for car paint. Came out really well and got a set of decals from ebay, which were not genuine but were pretty good. The Yamaha ones were very expensive! I think I paid the guy £200 including paint and decals were £40ish.

Was completely worth the money - my 15 year old engine looked pretty much new again. Just looked, but cant find any before and after photos for comparison am afraid. Very slightly different colour to the leg, even though same code, as I guess that had faded over the years, but as above, wouldn't really pick it up unless looking for it.

The paint guy said he wouldn't do another one as it was a complete pain and he'd totally underestimated how long it would take him!

[User name]

I've ordered repro decals from these guys a few times and the quality is good. They also have Etsy and eBay shops too.
https://outboardgraphics.com/product...tboard-decals/