Jim Thompson wrote:

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 02:57:07 GMT, Jim wrote:


You will be sorry you painted it.


Why?

A different Jim

The original gel coat is a lot tougher than paint. The paint will get
scratched showing the old color beneath.

If you paint it, it will look GREAT, for a while. Five years from now
it will look terrible. Walk the docks and look for yourself. People
will disagree, but the evidence is there.

If you don't paint it, five years from now, it will (can) look just as
it now does.

Walk around and look at fiberglass boats that have been painted.

Wax what you have and be happy with it. Save the money and put the
effort into patching the gelcoat and waxing.

I have an all fiberglass trawler that has been painted. If you were to
see it, you would think that the surfaces that still have paint need to
be repainted, but the areas where I've removed it look perfectly acceptable.

Jim

Jim, I have to disagree with you. My old boat was painted when I bought
it. Ten years later it looked as good as the day I bought it. You would
be surprised at just how many boats you think are gel coated are really
painted. The main advantage to painting, no waxing required. But if you
do paint the boat, make it a light color, paints, like gelcoat, do fade
over time.

John