Multiple Questions

[Bushwacker]

Another option on the gel coat is to use PolyGlo - it's pretty amazing stuff and much less work than the compound/polish/wax approach and it lasts about 4 times as long! Appears to be some sort of urethane emulsion, that, when applied to a dull surface, leaves it with a glossy "wet" look. If you buy the kit, it comes with a real strong alkaline cleaner and a course 3M pad that should remove most of the chalk. Might take a couple of applications of the cleaner to get it looking uniformly dull. The PolyGlo coating will then add the gloss.

Here are some before and after shots of the cabin top of my boat. I had never waxed the cabin top since I got the boat in 1975 because I was worried about kids walking on it and slipping. The gel coat is now almost worn thru, but don't often have kids up there now, so decided to try the PolyGlo, since it was easier than painting. I'm fairly pleased with results and other folks have tried it with similar results after seeing my boat.

After cleaning:

Hatch coated:

Entire top coated:

As for mounting stuff, you can make your own brackets with some 2"x2" aluminum angle or 1/8" x 2" flat aluminum stock bent into a "U" shape.