Gel Coat or Paint on fiberglass

B

billymoca

Member
I rudely hijacked someone else's thread asking this question (my apologies).

So i thought I would simply start my own thread.

I am replacing almost the entire cap, filling in the transom and multiple repairs on the hull for my rebuild. I have been told that you cannot do a gel coat repair over epoxy, you have to use paint (I am planning on using west system), but they say you can gel coat over their product.

does any one have any experience with gel coat? is it really hard to acheive a clean finish? I am not afraid to learn, as most of this is a learning experience for me.

I am trailering this boat as we fish in many waters, so i do not need anti fouling paint.

Am I over thinking this?

thanks in advance.
 

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i replaced the deck in mine with west epoxy and went with paint. it looked great when i finished, but i do have to repaint every 3 or 4 years.
 
unless you are laying gelcoat in a mold you will have to work very hard to achieve a smooth finish. It will not lay like paint. You have to sand and sand and then sand some more. It is a ton of work. I have heard you can roll wax paper over the gel coat while it is wet and wont have to sand as much.
 
I have thought this over and over about gelcoat or paint. I have only decided in the past 2 days that I will be roling gelcoat on the interior of my boat. It will not be a smooth finish. It will be a barely textered surface. Which is perfect for me and hides a lot of flaws in your fairing. I will be going with 3 layers of non waxed gelcoat and one coat of waxed for my finish coat.
 
I've tried it before, and will never try it again, there are too many variables in using gel coat, besides the cost(it will cost you more), you will always run the risk of gel not kicking(its not supposed to applied and cured in open air). Roll awl grip and you will thanks me later
 
Gelcoat is way too much work for a large surface without a mold. Awlgrip or Imron is the way to go.

Forget the West System resin, way over priced. I use US Composites, best prices and quality I have found.
 
Thanks all. I appreciate the lead on the US Composites.... much cheaper....but is the quality really the same? how about the longevity?

If I was to use awlgrip or imron....how often do you have to re-paint?
 
May I suggest to try a small area with gel coat to see your results. Almost all the time hands on experience is the best example!
 
Have you considered using an epoxy paint such as Interlux Perfection? I used the Perfection on a 250 Sportsman and it held up better than all the other paints we used. My plan is to use Perfection on my V20 above waterline and use VC Epoxy on the bottom. Shoot the floor with UPOL RAPTOR bedliner and should have a very durable paint finish.
 
I don't know. I have known guys that have rolling gel coat on commercial crab boats for forever!!! They refuse to use paint products on the inside due to wear purposes. I'm painting my outside with perfection. My console and leaning post will be painted also.
 
If I were finishing a commercial boat and did not care what it looked like then gelcoat would be the way to go. They usually don't even fair the glass, just roll it on and forget about it, if you want an even somewhat nice look out of it then get prepared for some serious work. Sanding out all of the orange peel then buffing the s&^t out of it.

Billy, US Composites is excellent quality resin. It's cheaper because they do not pay tons of money in marketing like West System.

You can easily get 10 years out of Imron or Awlgrip. It is a tough and very durable paint. Many custom built boats use either regularly.
 
Yes Sir, you will get 10 years plus out of Imron or Awlgrip if applied properly.
The paint companies change their formulas from time to time and its always for the best performance of the product.Akzo Nobel is now the largest paint company they supposedly recently bought out Du Ponts paint line.Money Technology create the research and development to be the best.:zip:
 
biggest advantage to paint is not having to wax it, awl grip specifically says not to, if you want to put something on it, they have their own stuff, but regular wax will yellow it. Its much easier to wash off as well
 
I'm just simply going going for that textered bloody deck work boat finish (carolina skiff ,maycraft look). If you want a perfect slick finish then of course paint it. Goodluck on your project. And by the way perfection by interlux is a great product.
 
jasoncooperpcola said:
How do you get the splatter finish like in the Carolina Skiff? I would like to have that in my V20.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how they do that. But I think they just liberally splattered a black paint type product over the gelcoat.
Have you ever seen the gelvoat finish on a Maycraft? It's brushed on. Liberally!! And the boat looks awesome. But to to the point of being Monet. If ya look close enough its actuslly kind of a violent looking finish. Lol!!!!.
 
They make guns that can apply the splatter but it can be accomplished with a paint brush. Dip it in the paint and shake it about a foot over the boat.
 
don't thin the gel, turn the air pressure up high, turn the volume up to max, and splatter away, I've also done it with a paint stick, just stir and sling
 
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