cost of gelcoating and any info

[gbf03]

I was just wondering how much it would cost to regelcoat my entire boat by a profesional? It is 20 cc seacraft. Also I have no expeirence with painting or gelcoating before but I have a very good friend in automobile body shop, he has never painted a boat before but has done plenty of cars, with my help do you think I should go that route or not. I am going back and forth between gelcoating and painting and I am not definite on one yet, I just want to get some info before I make my final descion.
Thanks,
George

[Scott]

I think you'll find that yards would rather paint and don't mess around with gel coating whole boats.... labor intensive especially when you get topside with all the "non" flat surfaces .... although the raw materials are less expensive than painting....

I would venture a guess that it would be very cost effective to do it yourself .... But lots of sweat "equity" (i.e. sanding) will ensue to get a nice finish... On the “flats” ,hull sides, I could see doing it .... but not when you get into corners and such as with the topside of the boat....can you say sore fingers!!!

[FELLOW-SHIP]

Ha George
Here in Fort Lauderdale it would cost LOTS OF $$$$$$$$ to have someone else
re gelcoat your boat. Like stated above very labor intensive. This is not difficult work to do from the technical side it’s just very labor intensive work that you could do your self if you did it approx $500. As far as the painting point of view any good auto painter could paint your boat with the proper equipment and proper breathing equipment. You could prep the job for him to shoot it. The paint alone would probably cost approx $800 to 1,000 for awlgrip primer and paint. I painted my boat myself roller and tip method came out pretty good but spraying will come out a little better.
FellowShip

[gbf03]

Thanks FS and Scott,
I talked to a local glass and gelcoat man and he said that I should be scared of having someone gelcoat my boat because it is hard perfect and often leads to cracking. Should I be scarried?

[Dave Hirshberg]

Talk to Ebeach (Jim). He gelcoated his. See if he would do it again or paint? I painted mine. If I had to do it over againg I'd use a bigger garage. I was pretty cramped. My painting costs including sand paper, tape, acetone, paint, primer , Masking-paper and plastic, fillers, tack cloths, and likely 100 other things is approaching $1300. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]
Came out sweet, Mirror finish [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[FELLOW-SHIP]

OH IF YOU DO IT YOURSELF DON'T FORGET THE BEER FACTOR THAT'S THE DIFFICULTY OF THE JOB X DAYS OF WORK X 3 = "THE BEER FACTOR"
EXAMPLES
DIFFICULTY FACTOR PAINTING BOAT 1.5
DAYS FO WORK 5
1.5 X 5 = 7.5 X 3 = 22.5 BEERS
RE GEL COATING
3 X 10 = 30 X 3 = 90 BEERS
FELLOW-SHIP [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[EBEACH]

Good question and one that continues to be tossed around. Trayder did his boat too, so he may have some input.

My 2 cents:

Re-finishing a boat is hard work any which way you do it. I would gel coat again vs. paint because I don’t think I could paint a boat and have it come out the way I wanted. Committing to spraying the top coat took a lot of nerve. I was always thinking to myself, “is everything ready?” I’m not sure what the course of action would be if you “missed” a spot with painting (prep or finish). With gel coat, you just go over it again.

Bugs and the weather. This can be a real problem in either case. Once again, I’d take gel coat over paint.

Paint will give you a much better shine right from the start, but I’m not sure how long it will keep that “porcelain” finish. Biggest problem so far for me would be staining. Buffing and waxing the boat is not a chore after having restored it.

You can sand through the gel coat, and I did in some places, but was able to re-spray those areas. If I were to do it again, I would use air dry gel coat for the first coat, and then go over it with waxed gel coat. I did mine with one heavy coat of waxed, but had to reapply in those areas that I sanded through. Get a gel coat spray gun, made just for that purpose (about $110) use a #4 or #5 nozzle and thin with styrene. I used about 10 gallons of gel coat that cost under $450.

BTW, I didn’t finish the deck, or hatch panels. That would be very hard to do with gel coat, unless you started with a flat surface.

Some people have mentioned thinning with a leveling agent. Both D. Herman and Ring Leader have used this. Reducing the orange peel would be great, but I’d check with the gel coat manufacturer first.

I had no prior experience with gel coating and have not had any cracks. I would recommend experimenting with it. First with a molding table of sorts and then on some fiberglass that you lay up. Talk to your local fiberglass supplier, not the fiberglass tradesman.

Good luck