Painting a soft top

[SnakePlissken]

Want to have my son paint a sailor Jerry style thing on my soft top board. Suggestions for type of paint and where to get it?

[dtc]

Use water based paints, you don’t want to melt the foam, and definitely don’t use turpentine. Although posca pens could be the easiest - some people report that paints don’t stick very well and can rub off. Also paints can be slippery so you need to wax over the top anyway (unless the picture is at the nose). Do a small test to make sure whatever you have chosen doesn’t ‘bleed’

Or paint the bottom

[SnakePlissken]

Use water based paints, you don’t want to melt the foam, and definitely don’t use turpentine. Although posca pens could be the easiest - some people report that paints don’t stick very well and can rub off. Also paints can be slippery so you need to wax over the top anyway (unless the picture is at the nose). Do a small test to make sure whatever you have chosen doesn’t ‘bleed’

Or paint the bottom

wouldn't water based paint come off in the sea water?

[dtc]

Not after it dries - most exterior paints are water based

Obviously if you use watercolours or perhaps some artist paints then they may be less water proof. I think the bigger problem is sticking to the foam - often the foam has a sort of shiny coating. Hence posca (or even copic markers) might be a better bet