Why Paint A Hull?

[Ducati]

Hello all

I love the look of a painted hull however I can't help to think how much work it would be to keep it looking good. I figure a bump here, a scratch there and so much for your $200.00 per foot paint job. I thought that good old gelcoat is easiest to match when it comes to quick touch-ups caused by bad driving.

I might consider adding color to the hull but would like to know the advantages and disadvantages to it. My big question is, how difficult is it to match the existing colour when doing a repair? Will the color match after a few years in the UVs?

I bet my piloting skills to avoid hitting a dock will improve greatly after getting the hull painted.

Season Greetings

 

[Tim R.]

My hull was painted for two reasons. Some deep cosmetic damage to the gelcoat and the fact that it turned pink. This was done by a previous owner so I do not know how far gone the gelcoat really was.

Some paints are very durable and can be repaired very easily. Mine is Imron which can be buffed back to it's original shine. Scratches can also be buffed out just like on gelcoat. Imron holds up very well to UV and tends to change very slightly initially and then stop. I renamed the boat when I got her in 2006 and there was a very slight shadow from the previous name. I removed the new name a couple of weeks ago and now there is a slight shadow where the old name and new name covered the paint. The rest of the area faded ever so slightly to match the rest of the paint.

If you have faded gelcoat that is otherwise intact, I would clean and buff to get the shine back. Paint as a last resort or if you simply must have a different color.

 

[CarlN]

I had a dark color gelcoat (Flag blue) that I painted after six years. I wish I'd done it sooner:

- The modern paints (Awlgrip) don't need to be waxed. A professional wax/compound job is about 15% of painting with awlgrip. I found that I had to wax twice a year. The paint easily lasts 10 years. (If you do your own waxing, you have to decide on the value of your time.)

- Salt sticks to gelcoat much more than paint. No problem with a white hull but a dark hull always looks salt encrusted. The salt also acts like sandpaper under fenders. Washing dried salt off is surprisingly hard - more than just a fresh waster rinse.

- The gelcoat will weather unevenly. In my case the reverse transom looked terrible after after a few years in the sun. Polishing and waxing would only improve the situation for a few weeks. Matching the gelcoat with the faded parts was out of the question.

- I find dark paint scratches less easily than dark geloat. Sure, shallow gelcoat scratches are very easy to buff out, but you have to keep at it. The paint is much harder to scratch - but more work to fix.

As mentioned, buffing out small scratches in paint usually works and touching up deeper scratches with paint works better than the boat yards like to admit (repainting whole boats is great business). If you do paint, look into AlexSeal. My yard has pretty much switched from Awlgrip to AlexSeal bacause scratches repair especially well but it's still hard like regular Awlgrip. My understanding is that Hatteras and Hinckley use it.

Carl

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Paints like Awlgrip are linear polyurethane two part coatings that have much more color retention, abrasion resistance, gloss retention, etc. than gelcoat. The orignal Awlgrip is a very hard paint and so repair is hard after so many days beyond the initial application. Awlcraft, is a more VOC compliant and softer Awlgrip product that can be repaired down the road. If your gelcoat is oxidized or damaged beyond the point of buffing and repairing, then consider a paint job. Awlgrip is designed for the aircraft and marine industry. Imron is designed for cars. Usually matching Awlgrip colors is easier than gelcoat.

 

[Maine Sail]

Imron is designed for cars.

Dupont has many variations of Imron not just automotive use. Imron MS-600 is specifically formulated for the marine market..

Dupont Marine Finishes (LINK)


If you can keep your gelcoat looking good it would be my preferred finish. Colored gelcoat on the other hand is very difficult to keep up with and in this case paint may make sense. Neither paint nor gelcoat is "easily" color matched for the long haul.