paint or gelcoat

madmat99 said:
last one on this.
the fella selling the boat has emailed and said it had a pretty nasty looking anti foul that he took of with a flap disk.
in his own words "a bit drastic"
i have done loads of work on cars filling and sanding down so I'm not bothered about the amount of work.
the main question was what produce to use as i don't know the boat equivalents.
i can understand people saying to stay away from it as it is a challenge, but its nowhere near as much of a challenge as the one i have now.

thanks for all the great advice and opinions and i will hopefully be posting some pictures of a much prettier boat in the next month or so!

Mat
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You can use the watertite I suggested earlier, but if you are doing a lot you may find it more economical to make your own filler using epoxy and a fairing filler. You have a steep learning curve but you need to make use of the manufacturers websites as there is no shortage of information.

You first stop should be the Wessex Resins website which has plenty of information on using epoxy and fibreglass. They sell WEST resins which are arguably the market leader. If the gel coat is sound, that is no fibres showing through or deep holes than you could just prime and antifoul, but there is some merit in coating with an epoxy paint first. Again all the major paint companies sell their own system.
 
No one has picked up on your comment about looking like it has been 'removed with a grinding wheel'. That sounds like the gelcoat has been ground off, possibly for reasons of osmosis? Tread very carefully, take someone along who knows about boats, you could end up with one hell of a headache...
 
As said 2 boats is 1 too many. I would spend the time and effort getting the first boat at least in the water and usable. However regarding the under hull surface that has been attacked with a flap wheel. This is actually a plus IMHO. Antifoul pant is thick and builds up over multiple applications over years and grinding it off is a terrible job which eventually has to be done. (very messy and quite dangerous). Once done the usual thing is to coat with epoxy as a barrier against moisture. This might be optional if original gel coat is intact. Then a coat of antifouling paint which is very thick so don't worry too much about small imperfections in surface. Plus of course it is not seen when in the water. olewill
 
Assuming that the boat had been out in the open for a long time since the underwater part was ground with a flap disk. Signs of osmosis having started? That is not a real problem; no boat that I know of has fallen apart because of that!
Have someone check it with a moisture meter. If the readings are high (and the hull appears dry) you need to power-wash it regularly with fresh water. Paradoxically this has the effect of drawing out any uncured resin that is within the fibreglass. In good weather you can even do two sessions in one day. At the end let it dry thoroughly for several days.
After that I would suggest a visit to the Veneziani website and go on from there. Two coats of their epoxy to provide a well-adhered consolidation of the exposed fibres followed by filling and fairing with Epomast (buy the professional type in 2,5 litre tubs; much cheaper than small tins). After fairing, five more coats of their epoxy. This is very thin and is coloured light blue which means that it will get darker as more coats are applied - easy to note where more is needed.
One coat of (cheap) Aderglas and follow with the usual two coats of antifouling, rollered on. I use their "EVEN" because their "Raffaello" is no longer available. It gives excellent performance in the central Mediterranean; my boat lives in the water all through the year and only comes out for three weeks on alternate years.
A fair amount of effort but at a fraction of the cost of having it done by tooth-sucking 'professionals'. Please note that I mention Veneziani because that is the product that I use; others may well be just as good.
 
The thread is 6 months old.

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