Painting crazed gelcoat

[canoe42]

Well I guess patching the crazed gelcoat isn’t going to work. Too many cracks that are really impractical to sand completely out. My revised plan is to patch the ¼” hole with fiberglass cloth and polyester resin, then sand smooth. As far as the gelcoat on the canoe, plan to sand it down with successive grit sandpaper to 220 grit and prime and paint. Don’t care about the cracks, as canoe does not leak. Maine question now is what to paint it with? Thinking of automotive spray primer and automotive acrylic paint. If there are marine primers and paints that would work better please let me know.

[the1much]

all marine paints and primer will work better,,,,but ,,if your not fixing the cracks,,then why waste the money on marine paint,,,,,,,its just fine to use auto paint if your not looking for it lasting,,,and even if you want it to last,,,auto paint should stay on a canoe for 10 or so years

[Kaptin-Jer]

As long as the cracks are only gel coat crazing you can fill with a glazing putty then sand and fare down to 320. If you are going to go through the trouble and expense of spraying auto paint you should go the small next step and spray Awl Grip. Canoe paint gets even more abuse then a typical boat at a marina, so go for the better paint. A pint kit should give you about 5 coats, but I defer to JIm. He is the spray Guru.

[the1much]

ya it should be 5 coats,,more or less depending on how ya spray.