Paint or gelcoat?

[evolution1985]

Okie dokies guys and gals, based on the informative answers I have gotten on my other questions I thought I would throw this one to the masses and see what turns up.

Basically long story short I am running around like a madman trying to get everything organized for the end of summer for when I do all the work to my Wellcraft. I have spoken to my mate who owns a body shop and has offered to paint my boat for me. the reason for this is all the spider cracking I have on the top half on my cap from the last owner thinking the boat was a bumper car :facepalm:
I have read the sticky on the repair side and am confident of my abilities to do the repairs, But not confident on matching the off white my hull is on every repair. (about 10 scattered around the boat)
So hence why my mate has offered to paint it, so it doesn't end up looking like it has a case of the measles.

This is what I use my boat for.
*Tubing/Ski/Wake. (predominately)
*Scuba diving
*Cruising.

the reason I list this is that there will be allot of climbing in and out of the boat with things that can knock and scratch it.

So my question is, should I re gel coat the cap, Or is there a marine paint like imron that will do the job and be tough enough to handle some knocks?

Im hoping some to get opinions on both, how they have held up, how hard they are to maintain etc etc etc.
I know you all love boat porn, but for some reason I still can't post photos. (I think its my computer at the moment)

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[fstalfire]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

Not sure what your options are in your part of the world but the best thing would be for your mate to talk with his paint rep and get his reccomendation. I'm a paint rep for DuPont here in the US and if one of my customers asked me what to use, based on your criteria I would reccomend a water borne basecoat and 72600S clear which is scratch resistant thus adding that level of durability your looking for.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

Gelcoat. Longer, tougher job but more durable imo.

 

[CaptainKickback]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

There have been many a thread turn into a heated discussion of paint versus gel coat, with many opinions on each side. Maybe that's why the experts have not chimed in here yet. But I can say, I have never heard the paint guys claim the durability that gel coat has. In fact, with many paints, durability is not in the vocabulary.

For my project, I an going with gel coat and the reason is that gel coat is more forgiving. What I mean is that with paint, the prep work is before the painting. And once you paint, you can't easily fix bad spots (bugs flew in, or dust on the paint, or just a wrong flick of the wrist). With gel coat, the sanding/polishing comes after applying the gel coat. But even if its not a perfect surface, you can bring it to a great shine with more sanding/poliching. You can fix spots that got messed up. So, for me, I can predict a more likely, good outcome than with paint.

In your case, with so many spots, gel coat the entire cap. If you don't match the hull color exactly, you'll have a nice 2 tone boat. lol

Good luck...

 

[oops!]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

the only reason to paint a boat is that you do not like the color.

if the color is fine to you......the gellcoat can be repaired for cheaper than a paint job.

if you do the work your self, it is far less dollars than a can of paint.

you only have 10 spider areas,,,,,these can be easily fixed.....if you fill and paint over the areas, the cracks will come back thru in a very short while, so you will be back at squair one with a boat that needs a full paint job again.

the better paints like immeron, wont allow for scratch repair,,,,,,so it the area gets damaged,,,,its a full shoot,

since you have to repair the gellcoat before you paint, why not just repair it in the same color and forget about it !

 

[evolution1985]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

wow thats some good answers. Well the idea is that Im going to change the colour of the boat itself.

Im definitely going to repair the spider cracks properly, "grind out, fill with repair gelcoat, sand"(the sticky on this site with the repair process is really informative) . my mate is going to paint a band around the boat to break up the boat a little and I really wanted that to be either black or blue. He is going to use imron for that as he has both colours sitting there that i can have for free. the idea of the top cap is its quite yellow to begin with, Im really not sure of being able to match the colour with my repairs tho. so it seemed simpler to just repair it, then paint/gelcoat the entire top cap whilst He does the other parts.

OOPS thanks for that info on the paint I didn't know that they didn't allow for repair, So as I have all faith in my mate, if we use the paint for the hull side, and regelcoat the top cap after I have repaired the areas would that work with longevity? We don't use docks here where I boat, just beach the boat. (keel guard on order) so I don't really have to worry about scratching the sides, its more just the top half.

 

[oops!]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

yeah.....just re gell the damaged areas, and the immeron will be a great boot stripe !

re gelling the entire top cap will be a real pita. so if you just do the damaged areas, your good to go !

 

[evolution1985]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

yeah.....just re gell the damaged areas, and the immeron will be a great boot stripe !

re gelling the entire top cap will be a real pita. so if you just do the damaged areas, your good to go !

oh ok, yeah I wasn't too sure on how hard the gelcoat would be with the top cap. I presumed the hardest part would be the swim platform. I had a secret weapon for that. I was going to grind the non skid part down till it was smoothish, then gelcoat that again. now heres the cool part. There's a company here called clark rubber. they will make whatever you want out of rubber. you dream it they can make it. takes awhile.. isn't cheap but does the job. I was thinking that I would get them to make me a rubber pad that has some awesome 3M adhesive on it for the swim platform with the wellcraft logo and bow area. they can even colour match the blue if i want to.

oops as your like my demigod here on iboats, I have a question for you?, I have a heap of the press studs along my boat for a cover. My new cover doesn't use them. how do I fill the holes when I remove the studs? a have about 50-60 little holes to fill. (they went a little overboard with them:facepalm I'll be repairing them the same time I do the spider cracks

cheers

 

[evolution1985]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

and I didn't know it was called a "boot stripe" learn something new everyday

 

[oops!]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

take a dremmel with a stone grinder....like a counter sink. and grind out the screw holes....just counter sink them into the gellcoat a wee bit.

then mix your gellcoat, and catylize it......put into a plastic baggie with the corner cut off ....kinda like a cake decorators thingy.

and drop the gellcoat into the little area. (you will need to tape the back of the hole.) make sure you fill over the entire area.

then after its cured,,,,,hyst take a sanding block and sand it smooth with 400 grit.....the each progressive grit all the way up to 1500....then buff and polish....

little holes like that are really easy.....i can do a whole boat in just a few hours including cure

 

[evolution1985]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

ok so I don't need to fill with resin or anything? I know it sounds like a silly question but the only fiberglass work I have really done is all automotive. it sounds pretty simple tho. I think I'd be able to get all the grinding done in a day. so it sounds like I could proberly get the top cap repaired in a weekend?

 

[oops!]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

the entire cap and be done in a day. including the spider cracks.

no resin on the holes,,,,you might want to put some resin filler in the holes if you wish.....if you do, just add a little gellcoat in the resin so it colors the same as the gellcoat.

one weekend would be tons of time bud

 

[evolution1985]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

sweet, sounds doable. time to buy a new dremmel

 

[oops!]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

any counter sink bit or air rasp will do......even an attachment on a dirll will do.....


but if you really want a new dremmel.......heh heh heh

 

[evolution1985]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

well you know what they say, any excuse will do...................... and I do love adding tools to my collection.
and besides isn't the whole idea behind fixing or modifing boats just an excuse to buy more tools?
that was my understanding anyway........

 

[evolution1985]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

hey oops, any idea how many posts I have to do to go to the next rank after seaman? it just hasn't got the best ring to it if you know what I mean

 

[evolution1985]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

hey oops, any idea how many posts I have to do to go to the next rank after seaman? it just hasn't got the best ring to it if you know what I mean

Scratch that Mr oops, Im now a petty officer, no more seaman for me. I think Ive had enough for awhile

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

the better paints like immeron, wont allow for scratch repair,,,,,,so it the area gets damaged,,,,its a full shoot,

Actually.. Imron can be spot sprayed and blended perfectly.

I would agree with just doing some gel reps and having fun with your boat. A deck full spray ( paint or gel ) is a die hard task to say the least ..

YD.

 

[evolution1985]

Re: Paint or gelcoat?

Oh ok Thanks yacht dr, and also thanks for the sticky on how to repair the stress cracks, thats what im using as my guide to fix the spider cracking on my top cap. I will do my best to colour match the gel coat when I do the repairs, my mate has already said it I stuff it and give my boat the measles he will spray it. So it looks like gel for the top and imron for the "Boot Stripe" as Im not confident in my abilities to spray then I figured I'd leave it to the pro's. It seems I can now attach photos so I will post some photos in the next half an hour or so.