I was in the paintbooth with Jake and we shot both Franks Blue boat and my White N20, I couldn't be happier with the results. We both shot everything below the decks, Jakes might have been alittle lower. There was a lot of prep and as waterbug said it was worth it. Also as Basketcase mentioned I did wetsand through in one spot but i reshot it and resanded it in a weekend. I do think it is more durable than paint and I like keeping the finish that the boat was built with.

I guess why I am thinking gelcoat is because the bottoms have a 1/2 to 1-1/2 inch stripe where beaching has taken all the gelcoat off. What are my options for sealing this up with a tough scratch resistance finish?

Wet sanding and vertiglas sounds interesting though. Would this make painting or gelcoating a problem in the future?

Responses have me leaning toward spraying awlgrip or wet sanding followed with ????.

Thanks for all the help!

If the bottoms are the only problem, just redo the bottoms. I don't do anything cosmetic to the bottoms. Leave the repair raw.

What color is your boat? If it is white and you are refinishing white, that solves a lot of problems.

I agree about just redoing the bottoms. With my Prindle 18, I taped off the offending portions on the bottoms, roughed them up, then applied gelcoat w/ a foam brush. (I used the West Marine mix that sets up in air, so no covering was needed.) Once that dried, I wet-sanded it to smooth it out and to taper the edges in w/ the rest of the hull. The result was great, and it lasted two seasons until continued beaching started to wear through. No problem--just redo again. The total repair probably took 2 hours, including the sanding. Done deal.

Hey, my philosophy has become this: Don't put mega $$ into making a boat so perfect that anytime it gets a ding or scratch you have an emotional fit. Instead, sail it hard and give it some TLC as needed. As an old farmer once told me, "I've never had anything in life that was quite 100%." Pretty it up but not so much that you can't beach it w/out grimacing.

I did this (gelcoat) once with a friend of mine. We did the bottom of his H20, but we used the prevail (disposable) sprayers. Once it was sanded, it looked GREAT!!

If you are looking for a paint shop that is large enough, my fathers in KY (on the lake) can handle stuff up to 70' long I think.... He can fit his 55 ton travel lift in there... it's NOT small. They do Imron and every other paint/gelcoat you can think of.

If you plan on painting the hulls leave about a two inch strip of the bottom Gelcoat. I did this on a boat I used to have. The gel is easy to repair and holds up better compared to paint.

The hulls are a basic white. I have decided I want to get the boat out on the water as soon as possible. If I want to go further with total paint/gelcoat I will start in the winter. So here is what I think I should do immediately.

1) Brush gelcoat on skinned off stripes on very bottoms and dab some touch up on any deep gouges/chips in topsides.

2) Sand and feather edges of new gel coat. What grit and type of sander?

3)Wet sand hulls and seal with Vertglass. What grit sequence?

I appreciate everyones help in keeping me from getting carried away! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Grit sequence is a slightly debated topic--just do a search on sanding and you'll see. As I said earlier, wet-sanding with 600/1000/1500/2000 is what I did, although some say that the 2000 is a waste of time. (Heck, some say that anything over 600 isn't necessary, but I think that's bonkers.) The 600 should work to feather the edges on the gelcoat, too, although you could back down to 400. Don't get too aggressive there w/ a coarse grit or you'll risk eating up the old gelcoat that you're trying to blend with.

As for the type of sander, it's called a hand. A powered sander is way too aggressive, and you don't want to take off any more than is needed.

Hey, have fun. I did, and I was admiring my shiny hulls just this afternoon as I was getting ready to leave my driveway. I think you'll be more than happy with the results.