Gel coat or paint

Finally applied the final coat of glass on my wooden dory and i am prepping for paint and or gel coat. Do i gel coat the bottom up to the water line and paint to the gunnel or paint the entire boat? My understanding is the gel coat will be stronger than paint so it makes sense to use it on the bottom of the hull to the water line. What do yall think would be best? Thanks


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RE: Gel coat or paint

 

   Jim,

Definately paint. Gel coat is useful on fiberglass boats when sprayed into the mold before biulding up layers of fiberglass. It presents a pretty and smooth finish. Gelcoat is not strong or tough. It is chalk like with a polyester resin base. Gelcoat is also very difficult to apply over large areas without spraying, and extreamly high VCOs.

You should have a nice smooth epoxy finish now. Paint will protect the expoy from UV light that will break down the epoxy. Paint is easy to apply to your wood/fiberglass/epoxy boat. This is a tough and easy combination to maintain.

If you are looking for abrasion protection you can do a epoxy/graphite finish under the water line. There are numerous posts on this forum about doing that.

You want to use 'Top Sides' paint even under the waterline. Small boats are usually 'Dry' Sailed or Stored. Meaning your boat will spend most of its time out of the water, so you do not need toxic bottom paint to keep things from growing on the bottom. Time out of the water will take care of that.

Have fun with you new craft,

Joel

RE: Gel coat or paint

   Gel coat is made from polyester resin, polyester will not bond to epoxy. Epoxy will bond to polyester. So you have a mold and spray gel coat into it, then the lay-up of epoxy and cloth will work, but not too well. Epoxy is flexable and gel coat is not, so later on you will start to see cracks in the gel coat. I'm sure someone in here will say others have tried this on there boat, but it's general knowledge in the field of composites to not to use this method. 

RE: Gel coat or paint

   In South Africa the outer finish layer of a fibreglass boat, not built from a mould, is called the top coat and is both very hard and uv resistant, not the same as gelcoat used in a mould as mentioned above. Would this not be a stronger finish than paint? I realise this is more of a question than an answer but I use to mistakenly call the outer layer of a GRP yacht gelcoat when it's not always so.

RE: Gel coat or paint

Jim,

I painted my Peeler Skiff with Interlux Brightsides when I built it in 2014. I followed the directions here.  It still looks just as it dir 4 years ago. It's been stored outdoors, used only in saltwater, and launched from a gravel beach. I cannot recommend Brightsides too much. Wonderful stuff. BTW: After it had cured for a month I buffed the topsides with the automotive buffer and polishing compound, and it looks like gelcoat.

Cheers,

Dick

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