Gel coat or AwlGrip

[abl1111]

Go w/ gelcoat; or imron if you want to gp w/ paint. I awlgripped a sailboat myself - she came out GREAT ! I mean perfect gloss and just the way you would want it to look. However, someone scratched the side while anchored and the shortcoming of awlgrip is that you cannot just patch the scratch - you must paint the whole side to get it to blend right.

With imron, it is slightly less durable than awlgrip but CAN BE sprayed/repaired in the damaged area only and blended to look right without having to do the whole side. If it is a boat you want to keep for awhile - gelcoat it. The prep work ( sanding )is the same no matter which way you go. The gelcoat will require a lot of wet sanding and polishing to get it shiny after initial spray, but it is easily repaired and looks great when done.

I know a guy who sprayed his hull w/ gelcoat and some sort of laquer mix and it laid on beautifully. He said it was similar to what they spray on a mold for a new boat...