Imron vs Awlgrip vs Awlcraft

[Cheechako]

This boat of mine I had painted with Imron, i really like it. Hard paint, so you can wet sand it like gel coat. Very satisfied with it.

[SteveSadler]

I've painted dozens of boats with both Awlgrip and Imron.

Imron dries way faster than Awlgrip, therefore isn't as susceptible to dust and rain. This was important as I painted outside in the Hawaii where it can rain at any time. I also used it as it's own primer, as it dried faster, bonded better, and sanded easier than primer. Plus the gloss showed any imperfections better than a flat primer.
A boat I recently painted with awlgrip reacted with awlgrips primer that wasn't quite dry and dissolved the primer ruining the paint.
The boats I painted 30 years ago still look good. One awlgrip boat is in the same harbor as mine and is still beautiful as she was when I painted her in 1984.

Spot repairs are easy by a professional but as with any spot repair will be noticable.
Imron was the first to develop polyurethane paint and dominated the aircraft market. Awlgrip was not as well funded as Dupont so couldn't compete there,
so went into the yacht industry and dominated there. Both awlgrip and imron have had brushable activator so you could have longer working times for small projects, topsides included if you are experienced in the roll and tip.
Given the expense of prep and material costs, hiring a pro spray painter is well worth the money.

[Clipper4730]

Our boat is painted with Awlgrip and is 14yrs old and still looks fantastic. We use awlwash and awlcare twice a year and it shines like new. It is hard to fix though, we wanted to take care of a few dock bruises as well as a few gouges courtesy of a couple Swedes who didn’t respect the tides and anchored too close. The yard just couldn’t match the color even though I had the Awlgrip color board, the one with all the colors with a little hole in each one to accurately match. We were past our launch date and finally said screw it, won’t be going back to Holland in FL any time soon. Anyway we’ve been pretty happy with Awlgrip and if we do repaint we will save a gallon or so for future repairs.

[sand6000]

If you are going with Dark Blue or Black then touchups are always going to be very difficult. Awlcraft 2000 will give the best all round results.

[SteveSadler]

I don't think it matters on the brand of paint. After a few years in the sun the color changes, the darker the faster it changes,