I have a Barcrusher with a black hull which has a white undercoat. Any little scratch or chip shows up beautifully.. it burns my arse up... I had a cray pot get hung up on the tipper and it smashed against the black hull putting huge scratches down it.. it was awful to look at. luckily an old school buddy does brush painting touch ups on car bumpers and he did a repair on it. still a bit noticeable though..

Its great to have a flash looking boat but you have to be prepared to turn a blind eye to the scratches it will cop from jetties and even stone chips..

that,s my 2 cents worth.

 cheers rigpig, 

excuse my ignorance but wont a flat grey chip just as quick? i dont know the basecoat colour, i'll need to ask.  i guess a flat colour is more workable if i do get a 'bumper detailer' around. i am a bit of a perfectionist, so it would bug me no end if it cant be kept nice

and yep she will be a blood covered fishing boat, not a crystal clean cruiser. (working on the theory i finally figure out how to catch decent snapper and dhui's :)

white basecoat and white colour would be best to avoid this problem all together. bloody boring though right :)

My 2 cents worth... Why not just go clear coat?  That's what i had on cray boats. Can't get much more metallic and grey than that.  Scrapes, scratches, stone chips etc. aren't noticeable.  Super easy to maintain.  Obviously, it doesn't have the blinged out shine of a good paint job, but I'm always a fan of keeping things looking neat, tidy and low maintenance and low hassle.  Perhaps paint the inside of the gunwales and superstructure your preferred colour.

Another option is to do a wrap.  I don't know what options are out there now, but i'm sure they've progressed heaps.

Don't forget to post pic's when complete.

 It pays to cover all your sinkers in heat shrink. That will at least halve your stone chip from sinkers problem.

as for whether a Metallic will show more scratches than a flat colour, same same really. It all depends on what the base coat colour is underneath. If it is a direct contrast colour, then it will stand out for sure.

to get around a lot of the problem you could also look to body wrap the boat with vinyl. So get it painted as a flat colour underneath, then vinyl wrap the flashy colour you want over the top. Come sale time, remove the body wrap with a steamer similar to a wall paper removal one and she will present good as new. Just a thought

scano 

Why do you think war ships are p[painted a grey colour, it's not so they will stand out on the sea I can assure you of that. It's because it will at a distance blend into the colour of the sea in the southern parts of our world.

If, and we all think it won't happen to us you have the misfortune of coming unstuck whilst out fishing and your pride and joy ends up arse up, or stays the right side up and you want however is looking for you to locate you very quickly you want you pride and joy to stand out like the proverbial **** in the desert, or at least that's what5 I would.

I hope I don't sound like doctor doom I just think that whilst some of the colours I see on boats around town look absolutely fabulous, if I wanted to be seen by a rescue group how would that colour go on the scale of being seen quick.

I'm sure your new boat would look shmiko in the metallic grey and I certainly wish you well in what ever colour you decide on.
Looking forward to seeing some photos when she's finished.

 cheers guys, so no paint or hot pink :)

photos will come for sure. i do like the wrap idea, might look into that a litte more.

gday bizkit
you can get the under coats tinned to a solid grey close to top coat which will help to hind some of the chips the metallic colour look great but to brush touch . It not good you cannot get the colour and flakes to sit the some . you have to remember it has a colour layer and then clear layer not sure if that helps

 Had my tub painted with the ford Rs focus green metallic. 3 stage pearlescent metallic paint job. My painter also topped it with 3 clear coats. Tough as nails and no chips as of yet. "Touch wood" lol. Had a vinyl wrap made for the rear to stop jigs chipping it also for added assurance