Gel coat or paint

[CBradC]

Hey guys , I have nearly completed some repair work on my hull but cant get a clear answer on how to finish it. I have two repaired areas ;one above the waterline and one on the boat bottom. The repairs were made with west system epoxy and are faired out well. My question is should I paint the areas , gel coat them or both ? Any tips or advice on how to do either will be grealty appreciated !

[optiguy]

Use paint. Polyester base gelcoat will not stick to epoxy very well at all.
Bill

[FELLOW-SHIP]

HA CBRADC
If the arrears are on the smaller side (a few feet square) you probably should use gel coat but if the whole boat needs a new look the two part paints are probably the best way to go. As for gel coat sticking to epoxy there CAN be a problem there “but not with West Epoxy” west systems has even done a articles saying that with west epoxy you can use gel coat over it. But you need to follow some fundamentals to insure the adhesion of the gel coat. For other types of epoxy there is a material out now a days that permits you to go from epoxy to polyester to help in this type of crossover work. I can’t remember the name but if you ask around someone could help you on that as well. On my boat I did so much work with epoxy that I thought painting was the best way to go. Some guys on this board have gel coated their entire boat inside and out but they used polyester resin and fillers and lots of sandpaper.
FellowShip [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[Rufridr069]

Fellow-Ship,
Did you paint your boat? Ya think maybe one day I could come see it. I live pretty close( Taft & University. I wet sanded the hull with 1200 and buffed it out...Looked great for about 3 weeks then it got dull again. The only thing on the boat now is the T-top and engine (which I bought a new bracket so its coming off anyway) Im thinking of sanding the whole thing down and having it sprayed. Will Johnny and Mac still paint any car for $39.99???? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[optiguy]

Bratpack, is your boat gelcoat or paint? Depending on the finish I have the reason why it dull's so quickly after buffing.
Bill

[Rufridr069]

Its the original 1984 gelcoat

[optiguy]

OK, here is the bad news about old gelcoat. Gelcoat becomes a porus coating once it is sanded. No amount of sanding, buffing and waxing will make it stay shiny. Even if you wet sanded all the way up to 2000, it will be a waste of your time. Unfortunately you have reached the time for a new paint job . And don't let anyone try to convince you to regelcoat. That is another huge waste of time and money. A new gelcoat job will star getting chalkie in about 4 to 5 years. Paints like Imron or Awlgrip will stay shiny for 10 or more years.
Bill

[Rufridr069]

Thanks for the info. Paint it will be.

[abl1111]

I must disagree about the sanding of gelcoat. I have sanded many a boat's old worn gelcoat ( years ago too ) w/ a 800-1000 grit D/A then polished the sanded gelcoat w/ a 3M compound, then 3M Finess-It II, then a good coat of wax or two and the results are awesome - and have remained so.

A lot of people, especially boatyards, paint w/ awlgrip or imron because it is a lot less labor intensive overall. Awlgrip is a pain in the ass if it gets scratched - you can paint it by brush or spray it however, but you cannot patch it ( picture a nice scratch 4"x10" on the side of your boat - you have to paint the whole side to make it look right - no blending ) ... and Imron is good stuff, patchable - but must be sprayed and is not as durable as awlgrip.

Whereas, gelcoat, although more difficult to finish after sprayed, can be repaired easily and is more durable then the paints - i.e. my SeaCraft is a 1975 w/ original gelcoat - in the Fla sun it's whole life and it looks new !

It boils down to opinion, and mine is that I prefer to gelcoat than paint. After a lot of research, w/ me doing the labor - I like the flexability and durability of gelcoat. But, if I had to paint, I would use Imron for fixability.

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Ha TeamBratpack
Ya we live real close I am close to Stirling and Flamingo you can come by any time to check her out. I painted the whole thing inside and out with the roll and tip method used Sterling two part Paint. My work # is 954-473-1406 ask for Ken.
FellowShip