My son and I are going to try and give the 1990 Alumacraft a new paint job but I wanted to ask some advice first.
1. Can you use automotive paint on an aluminum boat?
2. Is a guy crazy for wanting to do this? 
I have one coming in here to paint as well. First thing I will do on this one is to completely strip all the old paint off from it. I will use a very fine media and sand blast it. If the paint is not to bad on it you do not have to strip it all down. Just sand it good. Then I will use a metal etching that you can get from the automotive paint store. Then it needs to be primed, wet sanded, primed again and then you can paint it then clear coat it.
Yes you can use automotive paint. Painting a boat like that is always kind of a fun project. Takes more time then anything.
A couple boats ago I had a Lund Tyee 1850 Signature Series that had some rather fancy paint on it. While up at Leech Lake we had a ripping storm one night that scuffed the paint pretty badly on one side (tied to dock) so I had that side re-painted and re-decaled. Lund used regular automotive paint (at that time) and gave me the PPG color number. My body shop bought the various PPG colors and it turned out factory perfect. 
you certainly can do it your self. You probably should prime it with a zinc chromate primer.
Thank you guys for the input! It sounds like it shouldn’t be too hard but a lot of time. Now if I can only get it done before I miss out on the early spring fishing! 
I have painted three boats. First two on my own and wow what a lot of work. Last year I traded out some work with my brother in law for a new paint job. He ownes a body shop with a nice new paint booth and all kinds of tools. I only helped with the sanding on this one and let the pro do the painting. The finished product is remarkable. You would never guess the age of the boat now.
We did not totally strip all the paint except where the scratches went all the way through. Then he used a self etching primer. The paint used was actual auto paint and we matched the paint code off my truck. Then he gave it a couple coats of clear coat.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b8da37b3127ccec3b4e18406de00000010O01AZNGLNs3bMQe3nww/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
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