Bob,
I painted our
Scamp using the marine paint purchased from Amazon and employed the roll and tip method. You can read about our reno
project here and the painting report begins at post #249. We decided to make Ziggy a two-tone paint job with cream over red and we used
Rustoleum Topside. It worked very well and I was very pleased with the results. It took three coats to completely cover the FG and the paint can expressed the characteristics of "excellent leveling" on the front of the label. I can attest to the ability of this paint to self-level and hide the roller marks and overlaps. The finish job was very nice with some excellent shine.
Did the final paint job look as good and an automotive job? No. However, it was
light years better than the very faded gel-coat that Ziggy was suffering with and we would recommend this paint to anyone thinking of trying to do it themselves. We priced the paint job at an automotive shop with a good reputation here in town and it would have been over $3,000 including touching up my attempts to seal
fiberglass holes and
leaks. That would have provided a Cadillac finish on our VW like trailer so we opted for the VW like paint job. It took me four days of prep work and four days of painting to complete three coats. There wasn't much tipping but I always painted with a the roller in one hand that the brush I the other to be ready. I missed a few spots that should have been tipped but they set so fast, before I saw them, because I was painting in our driveway in the sun. Also, the bugs loved to come along and get into the paint so I was left to try and pick them out as I was painting. Best thing was that the temperature of the day I put the final coat on was much cooler so the bugs were a lot slower to get into the mix. (Freakin' little creeps!)
This was my first time at painting anything large that wasn't a house/garage and it went very well. Could I have done a better job? Sure, but I wasn't interested in renting a storage building or trying to cover the job with a plastic shed, etc.
It's not a hard job and as someone has mentioned earlier, preparation is always the key to success. Good luck with your project.
P.S. I started on the rock guard to practice my technique and I felt much better working on the trailer after I'd finished the rock guard because I knew what to expect from the paint.