Oh yeah, wasn't debating that. Also forgot that I had to rent a bay at the hardstand for a couple of days to get the job done.

Might sound like a crazy oversight after so much discussion but you need to find out what paint is on the boat at the moment. The substrate required for some of these paint systems is critical. If you get it wrong it will deteriorate very quickly (think of the movement in the timber. Just make sure whatever you decide to use is fully compatible with what's on already otherwise strip and start afresh. If you get it wrong and have used two-pack polyurethane it is much harder to sand back than gelcoat on an FRP boat.

Tip: if using two-pack polyurethane, white seems to exhibit better flow characteristics than heavily pigmented colours.

Cheshirecatman

reccomend:
1: somewhere that will do this for me in either melbourne, sydney or geelong
2: anything (kevlar sheeting..?) that would increase the durability of the paint along the bottom of the hulls, as where we sail, crushed shells and general bits and pieces along the beach have a habit of scratching her viciously.
3: a price estimate of how much this usually costs.

thanks,
Alex [/quote]

Might sound like a crazy oversight after so much discussion but you need to find out what paint is on the boat at the moment. The substrate required for some of these paint systems is critical. If you get it wrong it will deteriorate very quickly (think of the movement in the timber. Just make sure whatever you decide to use is fully compatible with what's on already otherwise strip and start afresh. If you get it wrong and have used two-pack polyurethane it is much harder to sand back than gelcoat on an FRP boat.

Tip: if using two-pack polyurethane, white seems to exhibit better flow characteristics than heavily pigmented colours.

Cheshirecatman

spot on cheshirecatman thats why I lead off with the sealer followed by 2 coats of undercoat, without the base right its worse than a waste of time.
regards