Deck Finish, gelcoat vs paint

[Zednotzee]

So my mid-70's boat has some stress cracking in the gel. There's enough to probably make it worthwhile to media blast it. It was mentioned to me that they would then re gelcoat the deck. My question is, would I be better off with an epoxy paint instead?

[model 10]

How does the cost compare? Gel coat is a very labor intensive job. Tons of sanding and polishing and then the non skid area.

[Suijin]

90% of stress cracks in gelcoat go down into the fiberglass...not necessarily far, but repairs require investigation and repair of the at least the top level of laminate.

I would suggest you grind out the cracks, which is time consuming, and check the glass underneath. If you have a lot of cracks clustered in one area, it's easier to grind out the whole area and treat it as one repair.

If you media blast, you're not going to be able to inspect the underlying glasswork and repair; you won't be able to see anything. If there are cracks down into the laminate and you fill what's on top of it, the crack is going to migrate back up and reappear in not too long, regardless of what's on top of it (gelcoat, filler, paint, etc.)

Regelcoating the deck is possible. The labor intensive part comes after it is sprayed, wet sanding out all the orange peel and then polishing it. Upside of regelcoating is that it is cheaper (as a material) than a quality two part paint and requires less prep before spraying it. It also lasts longer than paint, although it requires more annual maintenance than paint.

Painting is more labor intensive as far as preparation goes (filling, sanding, priming, more filling, sanding) but once the paint is down you're done.