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"Custom Paint & CAD Design"

"Repairing & Refinishing: Skater, Cigarette, Outerlimits, Nortech, MTI, Fountain & More!"

"Custom Paint on Boats & Tow Rigs"

GR Performance & Marine LLC

About Us

Company Info Chris Mills founded GR Performance & Marine LLC in February 2002 at the age of 21. Chris always knew he was going to own his own shop. He got his first job in the industry when he was just 16. He walked into the small sign shop down the road from his house where he was hired on the spot. Two weeks later he was tackling a huge clear coat job. The job had hundreds of hours of airbrushing done on it, and with little experience just the few hours of spraying, at the local career center, he gave it his all. The job came out better than expected.Chris continued to work at the sign shop throughout high school and college. He excelled at his work and soon had requests to customize the vehicles of friends and family. Ever industrious, Chris built a paint booth on his parents property and started turning out award winning work. The vehicles he turned out were valued for the meticulous attention to detail and the high quality of work, he didnt take short cuts or trim corners. These early years taught him many valuable lessons on how to run a successful business.When Chris finally realized his dream of opening his own custom body-paint shop, he hadnt even completed college. During the last year of his 4 year degree in Auto Body & Automotive Heavy Equipment Management, he worked full time in his shop Lansing, MI and commuted 100 miles each way to Big Rapids, MI to attend classes. After graduating from Ferris State University, his complete attention was devoted to building the name and reputation of his custom body-paint shop Extreme Body Works.Those early years were character builders but Chris was steadfast in his devotion and determination. His commitment has enabled him to build a highly regarded business built on the reputation of quality workmanship and unparalleled creative design. This growth is about to propel Extreme Bodyworks to its third location in 6 years, each time getting bigger and better. The newest location will allow Chris to combine his passion for watercraft with his artistic talent for vehicle custom paint.Chris career began with road vehicles but his passion has always been on the water. He spent every summer and most weekends as a child on the shores of Higgins Lake where his grandfather lived. As a young boy he dreamt of one day having his own boat and being the fastest, coolest guy around. Grandpa Mills helped to fuel this dream when he bought Chris and his cousins their own 12 foot mini catamaran with a 25HP Johnson. As young man running his own business, Chris was able to purchase his own boat at the age of 22, a 185 Power Play. He now had a fast boat but he needed to make it the coolest boat so of course it had to have custom paint. It was then Chris realized how much fun painting boats could be. That large canvas gave him room to let his talent run wild.Chris formal introduction to the boat industry can be credited to his best friend, TJ Pipkens. Chris and TJ envisioned a future in the elite field of painting high-end performance boats. TJs background in off shore boat brokering lead to a contact with one of the fathers of the off shore boat industry, Peter Hledin, President and founder of Douglas Marine Corp / Skater Power Boats. GR Performance & Marine LLC is making waves as the new kid on the block. The plan is to keep this momentum going for years to come. We are ready to create your next work of art on water!.

About the Shop ABOUT THE SHOP10,000 Square Foot Facility60 X 27 X 14 Cross Draft Paint BoothOver Head Gantry's for liftingSnap-On Hand ToolsSnap-On Lifting HoistsCustom Dolly'sCustom RotisserieHouse of Color, Standox & Spies/ Heckers Paint LinesHigh-tech CAD SystemStencil PlottersDevilibss & Iwata Spray EquipmentOur current location is in Holland, MI after deciding to move from Lansing, MI. We now are conveniently located just 8 miles from Douglas Marine for ease of transportation, of Douglas Marine's new, used and or repaired Skater's. We set up a 10,000 square foot shop with the capability of painting up to a 46ft Catamaran or 50ft Vee bottom of any make or model. This also gives us the ability to work hand & hand with Douglas Marine Corporation, we already have the equipment necessary to lift boats off their trailers and on to a dolly to be painted or repaired. We also have all the equipment and artistry necessary to produce show quality paint jobs. We plan to expand to 16,000 square feet with in the next two years. This would give us the room to start restoration of the famous Douglas Marine Skater's. a start to finish with all the components available, a "so call one stop shop".

Company Info

About the Shop

Services

Custom Painting

Custom Painting
From corporate logos to custom murals and graphics, GR Performance & Marine LLC strives to exceed above & beyond customer expectations. We do this by using high quality metallics, pearls, and tri-coats, which are also know as candys. We are able to create 3D works of art that dance in the sunlight. We can create the most complicated and intricate themes, or the simplest two tone shapes & lettering. Extreme Body Works has the capability to paint nearly any substrate, whether it is fiberglass, carbon fiber, Kevlar, gel coat, steel, or even most plastics. Our specialty are overall paint schemes on boats, but we also have experience with, custom painting trucks, tow rigs, motor coaches & even buss.

Graphic Design

Graphic Design
To achieve top quality workmanship, GR Performance & Marine LLC uses the highest quality materials, including a European paint line and high-end tapes & stencil masks. To create those jaw dropping effects, we use numerous techniques to fade, drop shadow, and highlight graphics. Our 3D air brushing effects can create an object that look as if it is jumping off the surface. We use the most advanced equipment to create the cleanest crisp lines & shapes, with the utmost meticulous attention to detail.

CAD Rendering

CAD Rendering

Using the latest technology in computer design software, GR Performance & Marine LLC is able to create & recreate renderings to meet customer expectations. This also gives us the ability to work with the customer at a personal level, using the customers unique ideas as well as our own to create a whole package that can be modeled on a computer screen before any paint is sprayed. This gives you the ability to help create your own personalized eye catching paint scheme that everyone will talk about.

Graphic Repair

Graphic Repair

Here is an example of an Outerlimits

we have repaired.
If and when your custom paint job is damaged, GR Performance & Marine LLC can fix and repair it from start to finish. We can repair all colors, fades, airbrushing, pearls, metallics & professional artwork. We can repair and refinish any size scratch from 1 to 30, we also offer to refresh dated paint jobs with an overall clear coat, wet sand and polish for $200.00 per lineal foot plus repair time.

Hull Blueprinting

Hull Blueprinting
Hull blue printing is an art form taken very seriously at GR Performance & Marine LLC. We are one of the leaders in bottom repair and hull blue printing for race and pleasure, performance boats. For Hull blue printing to work, it must be done correctly. If incorrect procedures are used the hull could be damaged. Most of the time we bring the hull bottom to tighter tolerances than can be done in the mold. What is blueprinting? The term is probably familiar to most, but you've likely heard it only in reference to engines or parts. Blueprinting means to modify an object in order to bring its critical dimensions as close to original factory specifications: Production tolerances and variances often allow parts to vary. Here at Extreme Body Works we strive to exceed OEM specifications. Most of the time we bring the hull bottom within tolerances of 1mm to 2mm, any hook or variation in the running surface can cause substantial handling issues and top speed losses. The process we use is called fair fill & block, 1.Assess where the running surface has flaws and imperfection marks and note these areas.2.Assess if there are delimitation issues. If not we use the original surface material we have available to straighten the surface as much as possible, in doing so we remove the gel or paint in high areas and leave it in the low area. 3.Once we have established the high and low spots we skin coat sections roughly 2 x 3 leaving the low spots extra thick. We like to use an aluminum straight edge to insure consistency.4.Then we block numerous times repeating until we are completely happy with the surface variances.5.We still have one more chance to get it right, we now match the gel coat color & spray 30mils thick gel or filler coat feathering the edges. Let that dry over night.6.Now on to final finish we block sand by hand starting with grits 120 all the way up to 1500. We then polish the overall bottom, or apply top coat on epoxy applications. In some cases we leave 400 grit scratches in the surface to aerate the water..

Vacuum Bag Repair

Vacuum Bag Repair

Here is an example of a Skater transom repaired with vacuum bagging technology.
We have an extensive back ground in epoxy lamination and modern vacuum bagging technology. We have the ability to laminate S glass, E glass, and Carbon fiber / Graphite fiber, Kevlar / Para-aramids. Use epoxy resins and vacuum bagging technology. We vacuum bag using: •Airtech ecnolease high silicone peel & ply •Airtech AT-200Y sealant tape•Econoweave 44 Breather or Simple bubble wrap•Dahlar® Release Bag 125 vacuum bag .

Custom Painting

Graphic Design

CAD Rendering

Graphic Repair

Hull Blueprinting

Vacuum Bag Repair

Pictures

fmo112710_1008

Contact

Owner/Design Artist CHRIS MILLS

cmills_boatcustoms.com

tborisch_boatcustoms.com

GR Performance & Marine L.L.C.

3678 68th st SE

Caledonia mi 49316

Phone: (855) Boatcustoms

or 888 898 0096

Fax: 616-494-6966

Estimate

Events

Renderings

News Extreme Body Works moves closer to Douglas Marine, Chris Mills owner of Extreme Body Works / www.boatcustoms.com has moved his facility to the west side of Michigan to be closer to Douglas Marine. With the help of Peter Hledin he has set up a new facility just eight miles north of Douglas Marine. His Facility includes 10,000 square feet of space with a new spray booth 27' x 60' able to fit any size powerboat. They are capable of repairing conventional fiberglass as well as epoxy laminations, they have the ability to strip & refinish any make & model, and of course creating one of a kind custom paint jobs. He is also in the process of teaming up with Eric Stuive of Fluid Design, CAD designer and engineer for Douglas Marine and Cigarette Racing. With Eric's help they are able to offer custom windscreen conversions as well as race to pleasure conversions with any configuration.Contact Chris at (800) 898-0096 or email cmills_boatcustoms.com

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