Whats the best way to paint over gel coat?

[SILLY]

I'm looking to paint my boat in the near future,i was just worndering if any of you fine people had any tips for me?

[boarditup]

Surface prep, surface prep, surface prep, Imron or other epoxy paint in multiple coats. Did I mention surface prep?

[Liquidmx]

Dont!

[DBudman]

SILLY, I saw pictures of the tower you made.................would love to see your final picture after you paint your boat. What color are you thinking? I'd imagine it would be pretty expensive to paint. But what do I know.

Where there's a will there's a way......

[Nauty]

This may be a stupid question, but can you paint over gel coat? What kind of paint do you use that will hold up against marine use? I was always under the impression that the only way to professionally change a boat color was to re-apply gel coat. I guess I was wrong?

[DBudman]

just add some decals or striping. Much cheaper and won't have the risk of screwing it up

[FRG]

You can paint a boat with automotive paint, it's just not as durable. Gel coat can also be sprayed on. Either way, have it done by professionals.

[wesgardner]

Hey SILLY,

Here's the scoop - I used to shoot boats years ago. For professional application, AwlGrip can't be beat, second in the running is Imron. Both of these paints are linear polyurethane. They are difficult to spray well, we used to wear full suits with an air feed or you'd end up dead due to the fumes - very toxic stuff. I believe other folks have modified the LP paint system to make it brushable and there's a single part polyU - Interlux sells "Brightside" as their brushable single-part. As you come down the scale from the extremely toxic difficult to apply two part LP's to the single part stuff, you give up durability and shine - the two-parts look like they're still wet if done correctly.

Either spray or brush takes awhile to get your technique down...price around to see what a pro job will run...one way to trim costs is if YOU do the prep. work and just have the shop shoot the paint. Oh yeah, take heed of what boarditup, says...whoever does the prep job, this is the "make it or break it" part of refinishing anything. The good news is I saved a bunch of money....no seriously, the good news is you can now buy all the prep. material either at a chandlery or auto parts store...And yes, of course you can paint over gelcoat. You just sand it down and shoot the paint - easy as that right....

Wes

[DiyGuy]

I'll second on the IMRON. I painted several airplanes with it and it is one tough paint. It will actually bend quite a bit before it cracks or breaks. It is/was pretty expensive stuff. Even the 'thinner' clean up solvent was costly.

I didn't have a full air suit, and painted wings in an enclosed garage with 2 fans...one pushing air in, the other pulling out. No wonder I've never been the same since.

Never thought about painting a boat with it.. Wonder what sort of prep would have to be done? Scuff up at 600 wet then acetone wipedown?? It would be a huge undertaking in either case. Maybe a primer of some sort... It would look very nice!

Spatting bugs on the leading edge of wing surfaces at 300+ MPH, then just a soak in soap with a mop and they just fell off. Always looked like wet nail polish on the bright colors!

My 2 cents on Imron.

~~~~~

[dmkhnr]

We painted my fathers 1991 24' Eliminator Daytona before the season. We took all the hardware, and upholstry out, dropped it off with someone who has sprayed boats before, and got it back 4 weeks later. They used auto paint, with a clear coat. It took them 3 weeks to prep it, shot the paint in 1 night, and another week working the paint out. They did a spectacular job, and the boat looks brand new.
I've got some pics on my computer if your interested.
DK

[intotheflats]

I could be wrong but I think you have to have a license or something like that to spray imron because it is so toxic. AwlGrip is awesome paint, super durable.

I would recommend not to paint it. There isn't a paint made that is a durable as gel coat. If it is faded really bad, wet sand it with 1500 or 2000 grit wet/dry paper. That will bring the color back in a hurry.

[MrBlean]

I just attacked a small area of my boat with an automotive polishing tool and refinishing paste. The tool is a variable speed 9 inch angle grinder equiped with a hard(ish) foam pad. It's designed for the task as an angle grinder runs too fast.

You have to be careful to not exert too much pressure or let the compound dry out but the end result was amazing. Took a virtually matt finish (see first photo labeled "matt finish") with several shallow scratches (mild example shown right in the centre of the photo) to a showroom shine in a minute or two. The third photo labeled "after polishing" shows more severe scratching (untreated) immediately above the lens cap. The lens cap was inserted for scale purposes. The area to the left of the lens cap has been polished. The scratches shown will become invisible to anything but the closest scrutiny after polishing.

When treating the scraches I chose not to try to completely remove them, I just polished them and the surrounding area. They no longer appear as white scratches on blue gel coat and can only be seen in reflected light as very slight recesses.

The amount of work involved in doing that together with the comparatively high quality of the result versus the enormous time, cost and difficulty of re-spraying an entire hull is such that I'd recommend trying polishing before committing to a respray. The hull would have to be really badly scratched before I would consider a respray and then, as others have said, the secret is in repairing the scratches invisibly before the top finish is applied.

I'm planning to do the all the deck over winter in the areas where the sun has bleached the colour 'cos it's exposed to the elements. Will probably end up doing the entre boat if I have time otherwise some parts will be much shinier than others!

[Laptom]

Look for RiverSide on this board and PM him. He has done several boats (even NEW SAN) and I know from my own experiences that his boats looks smashing!!! He can give you some hints.

[FRG]

For my profession, I work at and run a bodyshop which also includes fiberglass repair. IMRON is used on some boats, mostly older, but used on boats like Formula, Baja, ect. (older models) THIS paint is easy to spray because it's a single stage (no clear coat). It lays thick, nice and flat and if something runs or pops, you can buff it right out. It is durable but it does not compare to Gel-coat.

Gel coat repair is easy, with a kit, the right tools and technique, small scratchs and "chips" look real nice when done correctly.

Spraying Gel-coat, if your a veteran painter and know preping, color tinting, air pressure to your gun, flow technique, AND AFFORD THE SPRAY GUN. You can do it yourself.

DO NOT USE 2-stage paint (base coat, clear coat) automotive paint

We have re-done so many peoples boats because they have brought their boats to body shops and with the sun and water beating on the boat, you can see all the clear blend lines.

Most boats can be wet sand and buffed out, some, gel-coat or single stage paint is too far gone and must be re-shot. In either case, if it's old, and you really just want it too look decent for a few years, use single stage. If it's newer just scratched to hell and you are keeping it for a few years........Gel-coat. Either way, have it done professionally, otherwise I'll call the EPA. HAHAHA!

[MrBlean]

[FRG]

Amen, thank god for that. Thats why people like us are in business.

[SILLY]

Hi fellas thanks for all the imput, for those of you who don't know me yet, I'm a marine engineer who primarily works on zodiac's(540-590 and the desiel volvo penta RHIB) i have experience in gel coat repair, but for my boat which is a 86' bayliner capri i don;'t just wana fix the gel coat i wana completly change the color scheme of the boat. It currently has a offwhite gel coat. I wana change the hull color to a navy blue, with yellow as the trim color, eg. tower yellow aswell as custom graphics in yellow. sort of a blue angles color patern. because of the age of the boat i don't think respraying a new gel coat is the way to go because i will probobly be selling the boat once i've finished with it and pic up a "real" ski boat.

[FRG]

You made your own decsion, go with a single stage paint.

Just make sure you remove and install all of the trim, handles, windshield, cleats. This is what makes it look good.

[Wakebrad]

Any of you guys have some experience getting bottom paint off the bottom of the boat? I want to strip the bottom paint and have heard you can get things to do this but haven't been able to get an actual product. Anyone know of a product to strip the bottom paint and leave the gelcoat intact?

[FRG]

The only thing we use to strip paint is aircraft paint stripper, I'm not sure what it would do to gel coat. The stripper we use breaks down the paint to the factory primer on cars. I'll ask my rep through BASF and Composit One, see what they say.

[Wakebrad]

cool, thanks man

[MrBlean]

Why go to all that work if you are selling it? Would also have helped if you had given more background to start with then we wouldn't have tried to teach you to suck eggs!