JIMinFL wrote:


I would not let any crack or gouge in gelcoat go unrepaired. Particularly
under the water line.

I think we would agree on that. Particularly since it's almost
impossible to crack or gouge *only* the gel coat. :-)

Your experience with the leaking keel is a good example. After several
groundings, you noticed some water seeping into the bilge through the
keelson. The couple of layers and cloth you applied for a fix went well
beyond a simple gelcoat repair.

I think you could strip all the gelcoat entirely off a boat and it
would still float. If the fibers were adequately wetted out with resin,
the hull wouldn't even absorb water (or "wick" it around). That seems
to be where we disagree.

As you know, there are some premium manufacturers who don't even use
gelcoat on their fiberglass boats. If the mold is perfect enough, one
can get by with paint rather than gelcoat. Gelcoat is an easy
workaround for imperfectly finished molds, as it tends to hide various
sins while paint tends to magnify them.