How Much To Re-Coat a Shrimper Hull?

[Zagato]

After hiring a Shrimper during the summer I have decided to advertise my Drascombe to sell for a Shrimper. My budget will be about 10K. This means I am looking at 1980's examples that will need a bit of TLC. The spars and interior are easy to do but I was wondering how much it would cost to re-coat/re-gel (what ever it is called) the hull. I don't want it painted...

Anyone know who can do it for some quotes.... thanks.

 

[Tranona]

After hiring a Shrimper during the summer I have decided to advertise my Drascombe to sell for a Shrimper. My budget will be about 10K. This means I am looking at 1980's examples that will need a bit of TLC. The spars and interior are easy to do but I was wondering how much it would cost to re-coat/re-gel (what ever it is called) the hull. I don't want it painted...

Anyone know who can do it for some quotes.... thanks.

Why would you want to do that? If it is dull (as dark colours often are) then clean it and polish it. Although it is possible to re-gel it is not common and painting is a much more practical method if the current surface is too far gone to respond to cleaning.

 

[jwilson]

You don't want to know how much a boatyard or independent GRP contractor will charge, especially as re-gelling a lap-chined hull like a Shrimper will be more difficult than on a rounded hull. It will make your £10K boat a very expensive one. Buy one with a smart hull, or polish a dull one and accept the need for frequent re-polishing, or even (horror of horrors) paint it. Paint done properly has been the usual finish for smart yachts for 100 years plus. You don't often see a superyacht that's not painted.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

As usual, I can't find the thread, but this came up a little while ago. The general concensus was that a good quality paint job would actually be better than re-doing the gel-coat. I can't recall all the details, but there were issues to do with ensuring that replacement gel-coat stuck properly to the existing layup (the original gel-coat would have a chemical bond, a new one wouldn't), ensuring an even thickness and ensuring a good finish. You also have issues to do with removing the existing gel-coat without damaging the layup beneath it. A good paint job would be as tough as gel-coat, if not tougher and is designed to adhere to a variety of surfaces. It would also provide a high quality finish.

 

[Zagato]

Thanks for the replies. Having looked at a few Shrimper hulls, many are quite badly scored through the gel coat by moorings marking the hull sides (chains are too long on smaller boats) no amount of cutting back will get these marks out, not pretty on a dark hulled boat when it will be parked outside your kitchen window! There is a guy that re-gels boat hulls around the Plymouth area. He did a 22' open boat for £1200 in Blagdon Boatyard, looked good but from what you say 'APilot' perhaps more care may needed on the decision, a professional paint job maybe the answer...

 

[Seajet]

I'm guessing the topsides damage may be something to do with the bowsprit making mooring awkward, for it to be as common to the design as you suggest; maybe a bow fender might help ?

At my club permanent floating buoys - with small pick-ups - were introduced a while ago, these buoys are rectangular ' pill ' shaped jobs which can knock the hull.

If you're really bothered about it the repaint is the way to go, then careful fendering on the mooring or your money will be wasted.

It probably won't appeal but it is possible to get a good finish with DIY International Toplac paint, it does require a lot of thinning; the advantage of this is you can cover any slight knocks & scrapes yourself, also very, very much cheaper, I'm sure you could find more useful things for the boat for the price of an Interspray job !

 

[xeitosaphil]

After hiring a Shrimper during the summer I have decided to advertise my Drascombe to sell for a Shrimper. My budget will be about 10K. This means I am looking at 1980's examples that will need a bit of TLC. The spars and interior are easy to do but I was wondering how much it would cost to re-coat/re-gel (what ever it is called) the hull. I don't want it painted...

Anyone know who can do it for some quotes.... thanks.

Another option might be a Vynle wrap if it’s only the topsides that are tatty and the hull is not suffering from Osmosis? check out this thread -

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?152160-Vinyl-Wrap

Don't know the costs involved might be, but maybe a bit cheaper than a gelcoat replacement, with the benefits of leaving the hull integrity intact.

A friend of mine intends to have his done locally and it will be interesting to see what the outcome is like.

Life I believe is about 7-10 years life?

 

[Tranona]

Thanks for the replies. Having looked at a few Shrimper hulls, many are quite badly scored through the gel coat by moorings marking the hull sides (chains are too long on smaller boats) no amount of cutting back will get these marks out, not pretty on a dark hulled boat when it will be parked outside your kitchen window! There is a guy that re-gels boat hulls around the Plymouth area. He did a 22' open boat for £1200 in Blagdon Boatyard, looked good but from what you say 'APilot' perhaps more care may needed on the decision, a professional paint job maybe the answer...

Quite possible to do local repairs to scratches in the gel coat, although more difficult with dark colours to get a good match. Re-gelling a whole boat is overkill. Seajet's suggestion of Toplac is a good one if the whole hull has gone dull and won't respond to polishing. Possible to get a good finish even for DIY, does not fade too much and easy to touch up the scratches. When it does fade easy to recoat - although the speed with which you change your boats it will still look good when you sell it!

 

[doug748]

Thanks for the replies. Having looked at a few Shrimper hulls, many are quite badly scored through the gel coat by moorings marking the hull sides (chains are too long on smaller boats) no amount of cutting back will get these marks out, not pretty on a dark hulled boat when it will be parked outside your kitchen window! There is a guy that re-gels boat hulls around the Plymouth area. He did a 22' open boat for £1200 in Blagdon Boatyard, looked good but from what you say 'APilot' perhaps more care may needed on the decision, a professional paint job maybe the answer...

I must say that worrying about a boat you have not even seen yet seems a bit pessimistic. However

Painting a boat, that you intend to keep long term, is one of the few areas I have firm views over. Paying a yard to spray a boat is a mugs game. I would never dream of it unless the hull had significant damage over an extensive area. You are stepping on a treadmill you can never get off, short of selling the boat.

My boat had a dark blue Awlgrip respray over the existing gelcoat in c 1992 and again in 2005, so with average luck, and heavy use, on a swinging mooring, you can get about 12 years, or more, out of it. Certainly more if you are willing to put up with the scuffs and dull patches. For a 10m boat you might pay 4.5 grand a pop. So it is about the same, cost wise, as putting in a new engine yourself. After 8 years I am beginning to think about the next refinish. I may well go for a re-gelcoat in white and have done with it.
For a number of years the finish looks outstanding, you will get florid complements. One couple said they were selling their boat and getting one with a blue hull "purely on the way yours looks". They must have been mad. You find you have to cosset the hull, adding cloths and fenders when alongside and on your mooring, you generally look like a fusspot. If you do get badly scratched by another boat (it happened to me in 2007) it is back to the yard, haul out, mast down, for a very expensive sprayed repair. Every scratch shows. You spend the first years worrying about scratching it and the last 5 thinking how tatty it is starting to look.

Seajet's suggestion of hand painting has lots of advantages and it can look very good. However resale value is badly affected if you own a "class" boat. Putting it bluntly nobody wants to pay a premium for a Rustler, Nicholson, Swan or Shrimper if it has been hand painted.

I have told this tale before, so bear with me:

One of the boys in the boatyard bought a Hurley 24 for peanuts, it had a very poor painted finish. He chipped the paint off by hand, sanded and polished and sealed the hull. It looked excellent and made him a tidy profit.

So don't think of it, most sailing centres have at least on place that can do outstanding gelcoat repairs. Polish your gelcoat and go sailing.

 

[Seajet]

" Rustler, Nicholson, Swan, Shrimper "

Well that should make the day for the most fevered Shrimper fans, ie most of them !

 

[Zagato]

I toplac'd my Drifter -not a bad finish but I think this would be the way to go "Quite possible to do local repairs to scratches in the gel coat" if the rest will stand cutting back.

Seajet, Shrimpers are usually clipped on to the mooring chain via the lower bobstay 'U' bolt. This means longer that is not tight and deep scratches down the side well back. All three in my yard alone are like that Can't be too hard to avoid...

 

[Seajet]

Zagato,

in that case ( sounds awkward to get at ?! ) I imagine the damage is done during light wind over tide conditions, boats tend to drift past / over their moorings.

As well as any fendering you can organise - maybe a mat might be an idea but a big thing to stow in a Shrimper - when you get yours try trailing a bucket a couple of feet behind, I bet it helps; do check her swinging circle compared to boats nearby though, should be fine.

Of course being a Shrimper you may need a colour co-ordinated sea anchor drogue bearing a motif of a bloke with a beard...