Hull restoration - Re Gelcoat, Paint or Wrap comparisons

[alaskanviking]

Good Morning.
I got stuck a bit in the yard due to cyclical issues of Time, Money, and Weather. A problem most boaters experience where you have one but not one of the others... in either case recently in the middle of barely able to paint temperatures in Virginia there was a freak warm weather day at 65 degrees. So I rushed over to the boat and managed to knock out all my gelcoat repairs in one day. Next day was 35 degrees and back to normal winter weather, but checking last night the gelcoat was hard and I didn’t see any issues.

Under coats were non waxed gelcoat, 4 layers by brush each direction was a different direction brush stroke. My overcoat was 2 coats rolled on 50/50 gelcoat and Duratek high gloss additive (as per instructions). Realistically rolling it on was rather easy. I shied away from gelcoat before this but will now keep it more on my go to list. As I am running out of time I did not color match so white on an off white faded hull with the hope it will fade and yellow to a close match in a year. The end result looks really good. Needs sanding of course but I was surprised how decent and glossy it looks. More importantly and the reason of this post, the large area that wasn’t as bad and I only had to roll on 2 coats of the Duratek mix came out really good. I was impressed enough that it got me thinking.

These repairs are only a temporary measure. The hull isn’t looking the best and we will see how it looks after I finish sanding and compounding. In the future I had planned on painting the boat a different color, dark blue. A traditionally difficult and therefore more difficult paint job. Regardless of color it appears that rolling on a few coats of gelcoat is successful, although I still need to sand. What about the entire boat en-lue of paint?

Paint requires a vast expense of work and energy to produce a decent job, you have to sand between coats anyway, how that would compare to rolling or roll and tip thinned gelcoat/Duratek on the boat in a similar job. If were looking into painting were also looking into compounding the old gelcoat anyway, I have been doing that and it’s just as or a little more difficult to sanding in between paint coats. Gelcoat is more durable and would be thicker than paint. Gelcoat would be easier to repair if there ever is damage. Quotes to have someone else compound the hull have been around the $2K range, so figure $3k to $4k for the extra sanding required to sand fresh gelcoat in theory if I rolled out the gelcoat. Is this a viable and cost effective option to painting?

I would also like to hear about the costs and issues with wrapping, as that is another alternative to extend the life of the original gelcoat before drastic measures of re-gelcoating or painting have to happen. I haven’t seen many experiences or longer term testing of this. I suspect it would add a protective barrier to small scuffs, scratches and chips which would make it attractive.

Thanks
Robert

[tkeithlu]

Hmmm. No clear simple answer here. I can think of pros and cons to each approach, and I'm sure that others Could add to my thoughts.

I'm not much enamored of the wrap idea. The literature on it seems to point to it being a temporary fix, good for a few years, when a cruiser's goal is more to stop doing yard work and start sailing.

Gelcoat gives you some permanent depth to the color. It's the way most boats come from the manufacturer. It does chip, showing the color underneath. It does dull with time. You've solved the problem of making it shiny.

Paint rather depends on good adhesion, and has a limited lifespan. Same issues on being shiny. It's a lot of work.

I suppose that I would look carefully at gelcoat. I like the permanence. You appear to be adept with it. My only reservation is the number of coats of one material or another that you will end up with. Is that weight a consideration?

[alaskanviking]

Well I can report that gelcoat is a pain to sand. It's hard, and time consuming. Then further finer sanding, compounding and waxing. Done so many arm circles my arms are going to fall off.

I think if your doing the sanding, and not enough time, gelcoat isn't a good fit. If you have time and not paying big charges to the boat yard to sit there every month, or a smaller boat, than more of an option

Also found that gelcoat is very difficult for finer detail work. Paint would be better there.