Gell coat repair Vs paint job

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

How do you use your boat? does it really matter if the topsides are perfect or not? How will you feel the first time you scrape a big scratch in the Awlgrip? If you use your boat a lot, just get some matching gel coat and repair the dings. If she's a dock queen to be admired every weekend by the other dockies.... paint her shiny dark blue!

Haha, I swear I just got done having a big fight with my wife over painting the boat dark blue. She thinks we will look like young republicans with the flag blue. I am totally into it. I just want a nice boat!

The main problem is that the previous owner ran aground in the ICW in Georgia and left what looks like a pepper shot on the starboard side about a foot by 2 feet. I'm not sure I have the where with all to repair the gel coat. The boat is just looking a little tired. I've never really tried buffing her out though. I guess I should give that a shot before I go and blow the money on Awl Grip. And you are right about the first time we ding the boat, which will invariably happen the first week after the paint job. We are cruisers not dock dwellers.

[Cheechako]

I highly recommend painting a very similar color to the gel you have. Dark Blue over white will end up with white scratches showing very well after some use! I've seen racing boats Awlgripped on the decks and they get scratched and banged up and look pretty bad.
All the painters like Awlgrip and it is great, but I painted my 44 footer with Imron... it's hard like gel coat and you can easily sand/buff/repair an area if damaged.

[neilpride]

Yeah i agree with the Imron idea to, years agoo i paint a whole deck with Imron in Venezuela, tough stuff, half the price compared with Awlgrip , not sure how good is with the roll and tip metod but spray no problem, he dont have the gloss as Awlgrip, but hell is a good paint......

[rw58ph]

Most commercial and larger pleasure boats are painted. Especially, if they are metal and/or wood. The Eagle is pained, and every year I paint an area, so it not a big huge expensive project. The Eagle is a dock queen that is very high meaintenance, almost as much as me! The boat really did not need to be painted but after 5 years had turned some areas sort of gray dirty white so it basically need refreshing. Especially where the rain water drain down the sides creating a black/grey streak, and wears the paint thin.

This year I am painting the Portuguese bridge, both sides of the salon and the area between the gunnels and the rub rail. I did the port side last week, took about 8 hours to prep, sand/tape, and a 2 hours to apply one quart of Brightside white gloss coat. This week I started on the starboards side, which is the weather side so it will take a bit longer to prep. Plan to have done by this end of the week end.

The trick to painting a boat is the prep and the base dull coat. The final pretty gloss coat is just enough to cover the dull, so it does not run streak. Its not like dirt paint that goes on thick and one coat. Next year when we pull, I will paint between the rub rail and the water line, should take about a week as the base should still be in good shape.

Its the teak trim and deck that takes 20+ hours every year to keep up, so 20 hours every 3 to 5 years is not a big deal.

[David M]

You won't be happy changing the color after your first scratch.

Unless you have a really tight budget and the difference between rolling and spraying will break you financially, then spray. You don't see cars that have been brushed....why not? The mirror finish of a spray job is superior.

Over time I think Awlgrip looks better than gelcoat. Awlgrip does not fade and oxidize like gelcoat does. There are LPU alternatives to Awlgrip that look just as good.

[AbaftAndBaffled]

As someone who inherited a white-gelcoat-painted-blue-awlgrip boat, I am planning on taking a grinder to the whole thing and doing it in white again (gelcoat). Blue shows your dings really, really clearly. And it's hot!

[MarkSF]

I've been sailing my blue-awlgrip Bristol for 3 years, and it stands up to docking very well. So far all I've managed to do is put some white streaks over the paint - they come off with acetone very easily. They happen when the boat nudges against the white plastic strip around the dock.

You need covers on the fenders, or they leave the same marks.

Once you know the acetone trick, Awlgrip is super-easy to maintain.

I bought a touch-up bottle from Awlgrip and it's good enough for any small
marks.

I wonder if Bristol actually used blue gelcoat underneath?

[valhalla360]

Dark colors and paint vs gel coat are two seperate issues.

Painting it a similar color is the best option in my mind. If done well it will look good and sell well. Of course, if it looks like billybob did it with house paint, it won't look so great or sell so well.

We did the topsides of our last boat with interlux brightsides. It's not as tough as awlgrip by a long shot but it was very easy to touch up the occasional ding. When we sold after 3 yrs, it was still glossy with no buffing or waxing.

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

I am coming to the end of my boat's gel coat life. When I bought it the previous owner and run into the dock so many times the whole side of the boat is pretty chowdered up.

I am looking into my options. I am wondering about value vs paint job. Are boats that have been awl gripped worth less than boats with their original gel coat? I will probably sand, then roll and tip awlgrip if I do repaint. Is re gel coating an option if I were to do it myself?

What are some of the things I need to consider?

We rolled and tipped our top sides with Interlux Perfection. As is typical, 95% of the work was prep.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...n-96573-2.html

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by bstreep

We rolled and tipped our top sides with Interlux Perfection. As is typical, 95% of the work was prep.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...n-96573-2.html

Wow great job on that deck! Not seeing any pictures of topsides though. I will be painting the decks too though so this is really helpful. During this process how much of your hardware did you remove vs tape?

[boatsail]

While I agree that spray looks better than roll or better than roll and tip, I will add.

Most often when someone is thinking about painting a boat that has crappy gelcoat, either roll and tip or spray would be better than its current look of crappy gelcoat. That being said, spending a buttload of money on a really old boat just does not seem to make sense. and if it dont make dollars, it dont make cents.

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by boatsail

While I agree that spray looks better than roll or better than roll and tip, I will add.

Most often when someone is thinking about painting a boat that has crappy gelcoat, either roll and tip or spray would be better than its current look of crappy gelcoat. That being said, spending a buttload of money on a really old boat just does not seem to make sense. and if it dont make dollars, it dont make cents.

Well, thats exactly the purpose of paint manufactures, to bring the shine in old boats and to protect the remain gelcoat, yes i know some brands paint their boats when new, but is a fact most boats are gelcoat molded,
to me make sense to spend all this $$$ in a old boat, in any case if you want to sold the boat in the future better to have a good looking hull than a crapy one, mine is Awlgriped in topsides, i do all the prep job 6 years ago, sanding, and priming, i got 2 spray guns onboard , nice for small paint jobs or big jobs , even i spray awlgrip to both booms in the rig, and lots of small things, i take my time to make a good prep job before topcoat, and i pay a profesional to shot the topcoat, the guy in question ask me to prepare a perfect surface , and i do my best, if i remember i spend in the topsides about 3000 $ for a 44 ft ... not bad... and looks fantastic... i get quotes before from a reputable paint crew and the whole thing cost me about 9000$, Ouchhhh!!!! again the prep job is the 70% or 80 % of the total cost ....

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by neilpride

Well, thats exactly the purpose of paint manufactures, to bring the shine in old boats and to protect the remain gelcoat, yes i know some brands paint their boats when new, but is a fact most boats are gelcoat molded,
to me make sense to spend all this $$$ in a old boat, in any case if you want to sold the boat in the future better to have a good looking hull than a crapy one, mine is Awlgriped in topsides, i do all the prep job 6 years ago, sanding, and priming, i got 2 spray guns onboard , nice for small paint jobs or big jobs , even i spray awlgrip to both booms in the rig, and lots of small things, i take my time to make a good prep job before topcoat, and i pay a profesional to shot the topcoat, the guy in question ask me to prepare a perfect surface , and i do my best, if i remember i spend in the topsides about 3000 $ for a 44 ft ... not bad... and looks fantastic... i get quotes before from a reputable paint crew and the whole thing cost me about 9000$, Ouchhhh!!!! again the prep job is the 70% or 80 % of the total cost ....

Yeah, with all that prep work... dont go cheap on paint..

[David M]

Originally Posted by AbaftAndBaffled

As someone who inherited a white-gelcoat-painted-blue-awlgrip boat, I am planning on taking a grinder to the whole thing and doing it in white again (gelcoat). Blue shows your dings really, really clearly. And it's hot!

I would not use a grider to remove the paint. A disk sander will leave a much smoother finish that is not all gouged out from a grinder.

[jkindredpdx]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

. . . The main problem is that the previous owner ran aground in the ICW in Georgia and left what looks like a pepper shot on the starboard side about a foot by 2 feet. I'm not sure I have the where with all to repair the gel coat. The boat is just looking a little tired. I've never really tried buffing her out though. I guess I should give that a shot. . .

I finally got around to patching several gel coat scratches and dings. Sedna's OP agreed to an additional discount when I pointed out I'd have to pay to have them fixed. My materials (Quart of Gel Coat Repair, sandpaper, sunscreen, and beer) cost me < $100. The tedious part was sanding. I waited 3 years because I was intimidated by the unknown. Just practice a little before you do it in a conspicuous place. Plus I learned that my mistakes could be fixed by more sanding and re-application. I do wish I'd spent more effort color matching, but the finish is smooth.