boat work

If you're talking about a workboat, sand with 80-120 grit paper and apply 2 coats of epoxy paint made for fiberglass surfaces. The sanding will remove the glossy finish of the gelcoat but will provide a good anchor for the epoxy finish. This will not be a glossy finish but a durable one. Epoxy is not easy to spray on though unless you do it alot and have good equipment.

If you want a yacht-like glossy finish, then you should use a special primer that breaks down the gelcoat finish and adheres better. Some folks used a diluted muratic acid solution to clean the gel coat before appying primer. (There are several different surface prep requirements that depend on what the final surface needs to look like.) Then you can apply either marine enamel or polyurethane depending on how much money and what equipment you have. There are several manufacturers of marine paint for fiberglass boats and if you can locate a paint rep in your area, he can provide tons of advice for your specific application. Most or all of the marine paint manufacturers will provide plenty of tech info when contacted. Some of the major brands:

Ameron, International, Sherwin Williams, Devoe, Hempel (Locally we have a good company called BLP--paint is made near Mobile, AL)

A good website for a marine distributor that also sells paint and has tons of tech info too:

• Paint Info

It had been painted poorly with a roller over the original gel coat- here is my f-up, I used automotive laquer primer over the gelcoat after sanding the roller applied paint off, then used a product called "Easypoxy" by I believe Interlux over it. The Laquer primer and epoxy paint do not get along, the paint peels off in pieces. The paint did not hold a gloss for but a year even though the boat is covered with a tarp when not in use.

I am in the process of re doing everything, stripping the hull back to the gelcoat, using epoxy primer, and $$ polyurethane paint (Imron by DuPont) over it.

This will last a long, long time. I went cheap last time, and didn"t follow the directions using the primer etc advised by the paint manufacturer. Live and learn :)