Pro's and Con's of repaintng a damaged hull.

Sneaky Pete

Sneaky Pete

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I posted on here a few weeks ago about extensive damage suffered to my boat during a storm in our marina. I have had a number of quotes for the repairs. One of those quotes has said that “given the level of gel works and the amount of labour time we could spray the whole hull for slightly less cost and have an exceptional finish in Awl grip”. Not knowing too much about repairing plastic hulls is this a good or bad move to have this done on a boat of seven years old.
 
If you aren't paying, I would insist that it was all regelcoated. Awl grip is a nice finish and hard wearing but is difficult to patch up when you get scratches and abrasions. It will really be down to personal choice.
 
My boat is painted with 2 pot polyurethane. The finish is tougher than gelcoat. It resists scratching well and any marks clean off easily. White paint is much whiter than white gelcoat and that makes the topsides look much brighter. I bought the boat with the paint job and have owned her without problem for over ten years but I am aware that there is an area of damage under the paint and I have no idea of its extent. I can accept this, however, because my boat was built in 1977 and has a limited value. 2 pot paint is good stuff, but for a seven year old boat I would want to keep in mind what an intending purchaser would think. Maybe you intend to keep her for 30 years though!
 
I have an Awlgrip finish on the hull. It looks so lovely that strangers remark on it, with a tear in their eye. One couple, with a smashing boat of their own, said that they were planning to sell in order to have a dark blue hull on their new boat: "just like yours" !

I would not touch it.

Only consider it if you are thinking of selling in the short/medium term. It gives a remarkable finish when newly done but it is something that you should never choose to have, as it is just another ongoing maintenance item.

If you are planning to keep the boat long term and it is white, I would look into re-gelcoating.
 
Fortunately I am not paying for this. The choice is entirely mine my preference being to have the repair as original and like new. It has been pointed out about the re-sale value of a complete paint job. I have been assured that the repairer will try to match exactly the colour of the plastic. Thanks for the comments.
 
Sneaky Pete said:
I posted on here a few weeks ago about extensive damage suffered to my boat during a storm in our marina. I have had a number of quotes for the repairs. One of those quotes has said that “given the level of gel works and the amount of labour time we could spray the whole hull for slightly less cost and have an exceptional finish in Awl grip”. Not knowing too much about repairing plastic hulls is this a good or bad move to have this done on a boat of seven years old.
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I have just looked back at the original post and I would be insisting on a Gelcoat repair. If colour matching is difficult there is no reason why they can't re-gelcoat the whole boat. When I have the time and money the paint finish on my boat will come off and the boat re-gelcoated. At least you can repair gelcoat (and matching colour is easy if you know the original make/colour).

Yoda
 
Sneaky Pete said:
I posted on here a few weeks ago about extensive damage suffered to my boat during a storm in our marina. I have had a number of quotes for the repairs. One of those quotes has said that “given the level of gel works and the amount of labour time we could spray the whole hull for slightly less cost and have an exceptional finish in Awl grip”. Not knowing too much about repairing plastic hulls is this a good or bad move to have this done on a boat of seven years old.
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I doubt if an insurer will pay for re-gelcoating undamaged areas - ie most of the hull, though they may pay for a total respray after repairs. A good gelcoat repair done by a good repairer will be (at least initially) almost invisible, though it may fade slightly differently to the rest of the hull in a few years time. When my own boat hull was damaged about 25 years ago I chose to have the whole dark blue hull resprayed in dark blue Awlgrip: the finish was superb, and still looked good 10 years later when the boat was sold. I have also seen boats hand-painted with Awlgrip, and if the painter is skilled it can be indistinguishable from a good spray job, and better than a poor spray job.

I am not a fan of resprays in a different colour - too much chance of a scratch showing through.
 
Sneaky Pete said:
I posted on here a few weeks ago about extensive damage suffered to my boat during a storm in our marina. I have had a number of quotes for the repairs. One of those quotes has said that “given the level of gel works and the amount of labour time we could spray the whole hull for slightly less cost and have an exceptional finish in Awl grip”. Not knowing too much about repairing plastic hulls is this a good or bad move to have this done on a boat of seven years old.
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Go for awlgrip G-LINE my boat was done 15 yrs ago & as good today as when she came out of the spray shop.
DONT have the acrylic it is far too soft & dos`nt hold the shine at all well
if you have to pay extra just do it :encouragement:
 
sailorman said:
Go for awlgrip G-LINE my boat was done 15 yrs ago & as good today as when she came out of the spray shop.
DONT have the acrylic it is far too soft & dos`nt hold the shine at all well
if you have to pay extra just do it :encouragement:
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Out of interest, how much does this cost?
Our topsides have various bits of damage, and I suspect she may already have some kind of paint job. Upon our return, once we have more funds, I was thinking of getting the topsides tidied up.
 
Cardo said:
Out of interest, how much does this cost?
Our topsides have various bits of damage, and I suspect she may already have some kind of paint job. Upon our return, once we have more funds, I was thinking of getting the topsides tidied up.
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dunno todays prices but will inquire.Awlgrip G-Line is the only system to use. if you see a super yacht for sale they always list Awlgrip in the inventry
 
I will repeat what I wrote recently. Gel coat is the name given to resin with pigment which is first painted onto the inside of a mold. It is allowed to gel ie become nearly hard so that the next layers of polyester resin will chemically bond to the gel coat but the glass fibres will not penetrate the gel coat. This gives a good cheap integral outer layer of coloured and shiny resin. Fine, however gel coat is not a good paint to be applied to long hardened and chemically inert resin in GRP. Yes mostly it sticks Ok but can can have shrinkage concerns. It is not as good as paint designed to adhere mechanically to any material. So just because gel coat is original does not make it best for repair. olewill
 
If going for gelcoat, I would ask for assurances that the finished repair would be as close as possible in colour to the rest of the hull, and what will they do about it if it is not.
I've seen two boats with patch repairs that were grey in contrast to the original yet the yard insisted the boats were adequately repaired. The insurance company agreed.
The owners only choice was to live with it or pay for a hull repaint at his own cost!
 
William_H said:
I will repeat what I wrote recently. Gel coat is the name given to resin with pigment which is first painted onto the inside of a mold. It is allowed to gel ie become nearly hard so that the next layers of polyester resin will chemically bond to the gel coat but the glass fibres will not penetrate the gel coat. This gives a good cheap integral outer layer of coloured and shiny resin. Fine, however gel coat is not a good paint to be applied to long hardened and chemically inert resin in GRP. Yes mostly it sticks Ok but can can have shrinkage concerns. It is not as good as paint designed to adhere mechanically to any material. So just because gel coat is original does not make it best for repair. olewill[/to QUOTE]

Absolutely spot on.
Gell coat is also soft, has poor abrasion resistance and poor resistance to UV, which is why it goes dull and needs polishing every year.
Modern paints stay shiney, are hard as hell, and are no harder to locally repair than gell coat. How many cars do you see going dull these days?

The old line that a Grp boat that has been painted must be covering up something may applicable if it's low budget and covered with household paint, but well done 2 pack paintwork is more durable than gell, end of story. And that has been the case for the last 25 plus years.
Just to put it in perspective some new Grp boats, especially darker colours are painted from new.

However, if you like the annual compound and polish routine, then stick with gell
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Theory is a grand thing.

I have a painted GRP boat.

It has had two expensive Awlgrip resprays in the last 15 years and I am looking at another.

If you would spray paint a boat you intend to keep, you would go to hell for a pastime.
 
Absolutely spot on.
Gell coat is also soft, has poor abrasion resistance and poor resistance to UV, which is why it goes dull and needs polishing every year.
Modern paints stay shiney, are hard as hell, and are no harder to locally repair than gell coat. How many cars do you see going dull these days?

The old line that a Grp boat that has been painted must be covering up something may applicable if it's low budget and covered with household paint, but well done 2 pack paintwork is more durable than gell, end of story. And that has been the case for the last 25 plus years.
Just to put it in perspective some new Grp boats, especially darker colours are painted from new.

However, if you like the annual compound and polish routine, then stick with gell[/QUOTE]

Gelcoat does, however, have the advantage of being MUCH thicker than paint, so minor gouges don't stand out quite so badly. It's not the route I went down with Avocet, but I wouldn't rule it out if I was doing another boat (not that I EVER hope to be in that position)!
 
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