Gel coat vs. paint?

I have 33' 2005 hunter sailboat that was damaged in storm sandy. the hull is badly scratched with deep gauges. Should hull be painted or gel coated. i am more interested in durability than hull speed. I also want a new boat look..

Any feed back will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

 

it is not unheard of for folks to buy a new fiberglass boat and have the yard grind off the gel coat and replace with an LPU coating. while these coatings can be had in the $100 a gallon range, folks like Awlgrip are happy to sell it to you for $500 a gallon.

paul oman
progressive epoxy polymers inc
www.epoxyproducts.com/marine.html

 

There is no need to "grind off the gel coat ."

The best and easiest finish will be from:

Grinding out the deep gouges and fill and fair them in
Sand the entire hull
Careful and thorough de waxing
Prime the entire hull
Fill and fair any imperfections
Prime again and paint

Choose a paint system and stay within their instructions and recommended fillers and primers. Do not mix and mach between brands.

Gel coat is NOT the way to go for a repair like this, and a painted boat will look much better than a Gel Coated one.

If your handy and you can find a yard with a painter that will work with you a good option would be to do all the prep work yourself and let a pro shoot it.

Until you've see a gelcoat and painted boat side by side you won't appreciate the difference.

Steve

 

"Grinding out the deep gouges and fill and fair them in
Sand the entire hull
Careful and thorough de waxing
Prime the entire hull
Fill and fair any imperfections
Prime again and paint"

keysdisease, would you recommend a product to fill those deep gouges to fill and fair?

Thanks,
Gary

 

For fairing compound, off the shelf pre mix is best.

Mix your own epoxy micro ballons is economical but the complication is the mix ratio. A slight difference in resin content and additive volumes between mixes creates a difference in fairing compound density. Or, one layer is soft and easy to sand, the next layer is slightly resin rich and more difficult to sand. This causes frustration when board sanding a surface true.

As for brands...it depends on your market. I like AWL FAIR from awlgrip simply because its available across the street. unfortunately anything from awlgrip is expensive.


Check with your paint supplier to see what he recommends as best value or google epoxy fairing compounds.

 

Thanks!
Gary

 

I'd do everything I could to save the gelcoat from a durability standpoint it is superior to any paint. A good gelcoat repair isn't something you can likely do yourself so you might think about finding a boatyard who can help. If you find that the gelcoat can't be saved the best paint finish, from an aesthetic and durability standpoint would be a LP like Awlgrip, Sterling or Alexseal, with Alexseal being the best. Unless you're pretty talented and have the space and time to paint yourself you'll need to find a yard to paint this for you. My guess would be that, if the gelcoat scrapes are only cosmetic and not structural, that to prep and paint the hull only you'll be around $10k.

Oh ya, pauloman is wrong in saying that you'd grind the gelcoat off prior to paint. That is unnecessary and only making more work for yourself

 

What Michael said:

"Check with your paint supplier to see what he recommends as best value or google epoxy fairing compounds."

Staying within the paint manufacturers recommendations or product line ensures compatibility. I know whats compatible with what, but I stay within the rules because if something goes wrong with the top coat I want the paint company to step up, not say I used a non approved filler.

Steve

 

What if you had a new build that needed a couple layers of high build primer?

Could you just spray up gelcoat instead, sand that to the right surface smoothness, wax and be done?

 

You can do anything, but painting will provide the highest gloss finish.

"Until you've see a gelcoat and painted boat side by side you won't appreciate the difference."

Steve

 

Sure you can but it is a fair amount of work. Whether paint or gelcoat you have to do your fairing first. With paint you'd fair, prime, sand the primer, which sands easily, then spray topcoat and your done. With gelcoat you'd fair, spray gelcoat, a few coats, start sanding until you work your way down to 2000 grit or so then start buffing.

 

Concerning the original post ,Its entirely possible to repair gelcoat damage. Locally we have a bareboat charter fleet. During summer those bareboats go into battle and get all banged up. Each winter they haul them out , fill the damage , touch up the gel coat and polish . The boats look good, not new like a paint job, but well maintained.

Gelcoat repair is a skill. You might ask around the shipyard for any tricks of the trade.

 

Hence my recommendation to paint. It all depends on how extensive the damage is. Even the best gelcoat match, compound and wax job will start showing over time as the different gelcoats age at different rates. What looks perfect could look like a leopard after a year in the sun.

Steve

 

One nice thing about paint instead of gel-coat is that it will be a lot easier to fix in a year or two when you smash into a dock by mistake.

 

Exactly, you can get a reasonable gelcoat match on boats that are just a few years old but once the gelcoat has started to weather the match wont last. You can get a much better match on gelcoat by having the local body shop supplier to come in with their camera to figure out the color, then mix car paint to match, they can get it perfect and the repair will match much longer. Gelcoat is made to be sprayed or brushed into a female mold, it is not intended as a refinishing product.

Steve.