Te Canaille wrote:

Thanks Barry, that's a lot more than two cents worth of advise. Sounds like I'd be in over my head. I'm probably gonna need a pro
for this.

That's why people suggested at the top of the thread that if you were
just trying to make the boat look pretty, it's not worth messing with
gelcoat. Filling and painting is much easier.

"Te Canaille" wrote in news:Wx4yc.18$MO3.8@lakeread01:

John : I tend to agree with a lot that you say. When you wrote :

I hesitate, however, to buy the notion that
student equate instructor competence with the physical appearance of
the boat they're paddling, or whether they're decked out in new high
tech clothing.

I think you're putting words in my mouth that were never there.

I don't think so. If I recall the beginning of this thread correctly you
were asking for information on repairing/replacing gel coat on a boat and
that the primary reason was that the boat has to look good because it was
going to be used for teaching. My impression of that was that you felt that
an unscratched hull would instill an impression of confidence or
professionalism in the students regarding the instructor. My contention
(and Brian's, I believe) is that for many students it can have an opposite
effect. For me, if an instructor is using equipment that appears to be well
used, it indicates that the instructor likely has a lot of experience.

Competence is either there or not. A certain degree or caring is only
that and it means that some folks care about that others don't.

I agree with that.
The
problem with some of the other posters here is that they were implying
that they would judge an instructor on scratches rather than
competence.

In both cases, there is an implication that the students would have a first
impression about the instructor based on the appearance of the equipment
he/she is using.

In one case,
one of the instructers was wearing an old sun faded PFD. Unlike the
clean shaven pretty boy ski instructor image with a french accent,

BTW a faded PFD is a sure sign that it should be replaced. PFD loose
floatation over the years and by the time they're faded have generally
lost enough to require a new one.

A friend of mine just sold an unused PFD that was beginning to fade. It had
been sitting on the rack closest to the window. It was yellow and made of a
fabric which seems prone to fading. My purple Serratus PFD doesn't appear
to have faded much even though I've used it quite a bit for 4-5 years. An
unfaded PDF that appears to be brand new is a sure sign that it has had
little use, which to me, is an indication of less experience.