Gel Coat or Paint ?

Should a boat spray by gelcoat or Paint? whats the correct thing to do i have too much conflict from seamans and captains they are all experts..

Re: Gel Coat or Paint ?

From what I have read here Gel Coat is expensive, hard to spray and takes a lot of sanding and pollishing to get it shinny.
Paint can be rolled or sprayed and when done is shinny.
I don't know if paint is that much cheaper, I have spent about $350 on the paint and primmer for my project. Between the epoxy primmer for water proofing, thinners, paint primmer and top coat paint, more thinners it adds up.

Re: Gel Coat or Paint ?

I recently ran into the same problem. We decided on gelcoat because as long as you spray it on thick and correctly, its hard to mess up. It is alot of sanding, but you will feel accomplished in the end.
We choose not to go with paint because everyone we talked to about paint said that you cannot leave the boat in the water for more then a day or two because the water below the waterline will bubble and blister.
Also, gelcoat last longer and in the long run is cheaper

Re: Gel Coat or Paint ?

It kind of depends on what how you plan to use the boat and how much work and money you want to put into it.

If you want to restore the boat and get that original gel coat look, then that's what you need to use.

Paint can be fairly easy, quick and cost effetive, just depends on the paint and how good of a job you want to do.

Gel coat requires a great deal of sanding and even the pro's can have problems and need to redo it, sometimes more than once to get it right. You may save money up front with gel coat, but the cost of sand paper and the time involved can eat up any savings by the time you're done. Depending on the color it can create other issues too.

if you're not experienced at spraying gel coat you can ruin the equipment easily if it starts to gel before you expect to and hardens in the gun (very common).


While paint will (may) cost more up front, once you spray it on you're done, not much to do but clean up after that. The work with paint is in the prep, the better the prep, the better it'll look and the longer it will last.

Large high end boats are more likely to be painted.