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Which Is Better On A Boat?
Aug 16, 2024
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View Video Transcript
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We've had a few people ask about what's the differences between gel coat and paint
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like which one is better, which one lasts longer, which one is easier to take care of
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maintain a repair, how to tell if you have paint or gel coat on your boat
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It could be difficult to know which is which and when you should use which one
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I'm not a professional painter or gel coder, but we do a few painting projects throughout the year
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so these questions do come up. And this is going to be an explanation of how I understand these different finishes and when and where to use them
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Jel coat is super common because of its durability. Most boats that you see out there, like at boat shows, production boats, pretty much most
0:36
fiberglass boats that are out there are a gel coat finish. So what exactly is gel coat
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Jail coat is a cosmetic layer of resin. It's most commonly polyester, but they do make an epoxy blend resin of gel coat
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It has thickening agents to it and some color pigments. Its sole purpose is to provide a quick, smooth, high gloss finish to production molded boats
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Which makes it completely different than paint, because paint is just a thin layer of paint on a surface
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And it's usually about as thick as a sheet of paper. Whereas the gel coat, because it is put in in a thicker layer, usually like about a 16th of an inch
1:13
maybe a little bit thicker in some spots, which makes it a lot more durable
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And that's why it's more commonly used in the production of a boat. You can think about it like this
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Jail coat is like the first step in a process, whereas paint is going to be the last step in a
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process. So in the production of the boat, you'll have the mold of the boat, and inside that
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mold, you'll put the first layer of gel coat. And then on top of that, you'll put the glass
1:37
and the coring material and everything else after that. So it's like the first step of making
1:42
the boat, whereas the paint, you'll take a boat that is completely made and done, and then
1:48
you'll put paint on it after it's all done. So think about it like that as the first step and
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the last step. And that's why gel coat is a lot more common in the production of boats
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because it's a lot quicker and it's a lot more durable because it's a lot thicker
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So knowing that almost all boats that are manufactured come out with gel coat
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if a boat has paint on it, it's usually after the fact. Or it's a custom boat that someone wanted to have with a certain type of fin
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And that's basically what makes gel coat more durable than paint is just the thickness
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But just because gel coat is more durable than paint, that doesn't make it necessarily better because there are some other properties to paint
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that gel coat doesn't have. Because paint is just a thin layer, it is a substance that's just solid
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It's like one solid piece. It's not as porous as gel coat
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Jail coat is porous. That's why when you look at a boat that is older, you can see the oxidization on the boat
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Like if you touch it and you wipe it, it has that white chalky film that comes off onto your hand
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And that could be a disadvantage for the gel coat compared to the paint Because paint is not porous It is one solid layer So if you look at a boat that older like you know 10 years old that gel coat is going to be fading the color going to fade
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it is a more porous substance and that means when it gets older you're more prone to things like a
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stain like if you're changing the oil on your engine and you drop oil on a 15 year old gel coat
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that gel coat is going to suck in that oil and it's going to stain and it's very very
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difficult and it takes a lot of work to get that stain out of it. Same thing for
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different stuff like greases, blood, and other you know liquids that you can get
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onto the boat. It's going to stain it and you're going to have a difficult time
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to get it out of there and you'll usually have to do like wet sanding, compounding
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buffing, you know a serious process to get the stain out of the gel coat. Whereas
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paint, it's a different type of substance. It is you know like a protected layer. It
3:48
doesn't have that same porousness to it and it doesn't fade the same. So paint will retain its
3:55
color a lot longer than gelcoat will. Though paint will fade over time in the sun, it will fade
4:02
You know, there is no product that's going to be 100% not going to color fade over time. Plastics
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color fade, paint color fades, gel coat color fades, everything does. The sun is going to fade stuff
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out. Doesn't matter what it is. So that could be seen as a disadvantage for the gel coat
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compared to the paint, but when you look at the maintenance of it, as long as you take care
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of the gel coat, it will keep that high gloss finish, as well as if you keep it waxed
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it's not going to stain, it's not going to oxidize, it's not going to fade as much, because you're filling up the pores with wax, which is preserving that gel coat
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Now, when it comes to figuring out if you have paint or gel coat on your boat, it's pretty
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easy because gel coat, since it is one uniform color and layer that was applied all at the same
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time, you're not going to see any difference anywhere on the boat. It's all going to be uniform
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Whereas if your boat was painted, you're going to be able to see the difference. So around an edge
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under a rubrail, in a corner, any kind of curves, at the edge of something like a different
5:06
compartment or hatch, like you open up the hatch and you look at the edge where the fiberglass
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ends or whatever the material may be, you'll be able to find where the paint stops and the color
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ends and whatever color of gel coat or fragor glass or whatever is underneath the paint
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you'll be able to find that there at that edge curve. You'll also be able to find different
5:28
imperfections depending on who sprayed it or painted it. You'll be able to see that in like the
5:34
inside corners of something or a curved edge inside a compartment or something. You'll be able to see
5:40
there might be a wrinkle a tip mark a roll mark any kind of you know dripping of the paint So you just have to inspect the boat to see and you can kind of feel it too Jell coat it feels a lot more smooth
5:55
whereas paint might have like a stickier feel to it. You know, when you rub your fingers along it
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it might feel like it grabs your fingers a little bit more than gel coat
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Jail coat's going to be super smooth. But when it comes to the appearance of it, paint is going to outshine gel coat any day of the week all the time
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Paint has those attributes to it where it's going to have color retention. It's going to have a high gloss shine
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It's going to reflect on the water a lot more. It is just way shinier than gel coat
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Even though you can buff and wax gel coat to be super, super shiny and have a high gloss finish
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the color of paint is going to be more vibrant than you're going to get with gel coat
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So it will have those attributes on it. Another thing, whenever it comes to trying to fix something like a
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repair or applying it, gel coat, depending on what it is, is going to take a lot more work
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to fix and repair than paint is. Now, gel coat basically, if it's on a vertical service
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it's going to need to be sprayed. You can't really roll and tip gel coat like you can paint
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Most paints, you can roll it on and then tip it with a wet brush and make it look
7:12
almost like it was sprayed. You know, depending on who's doing it and how much they've done it
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what kind of practice they've had, you can make it look really, really good, whereas gel coat, you can't roll and tip it
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Basically, you have to spray it unless it's on a flat surface
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like a floor or something like that. And that's only because a floor is going to get non-skid put on it
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So if you roll the gel coat on the floor, you can make it look really, really good
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But other than that, you have to spray gel coat, which takes a whole lot more work, a lot more preparation, compared to the paint that can be either
7:48
sprayed and look really, really nice, or you could roll it on and tip it, which again
7:53
is going to look really, really nice, and it's going to give you a different color, a different
7:57
shine than the gel coat would. But when it comes to repairing, depending on how bad and where
8:03
the spot is that needs to be repaired, it's going to depend on how much work needs to be done
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If it's bad enough, gel coat is going to take a lot more work than the paint
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is because the paint, you basically just need to fill it and repaint it. And because paint has that
8:18
color retention, you can usually get the same color and it's going to match really, really close
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Whereas the gel coat, because the gel coat fades, you can get that same color of gel coat
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but you're going to be able to tell the difference because three, four, five-year-old gel coat
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is going to be a lot more faded than the brand new gel coat And so you will be able to see that spot But because of how thick gel coat is depending on how deep the scratch or the nick or whatever it is you might be able to wet sand and buff out the spot and not need to make
8:51
it to repair. So they both have their like advantages and disadvantages where, you know, you might
8:57
be able to get away with a simple repair and not have to repaint, but paint because it's so thin
9:04
you will always have to repaint. But when it comes to smaller areas, stuff like
9:09
the size of a frisbee or just a smaller area. Paint, again, is going to be way easier than the
9:14
gel coat because paint, you can just mix up and use a little airbrush that only needs like 15 to 20
9:21
30 pounds of air to run, and you can spray that opposed to the gel coat, which you can't use
9:28
those little airbrushes just because of how thick the gel coat is, you're going to need to do a
9:33
lot more work to get that repair done in that little area. And then when it comes to taking care of it
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and the maintenance, paint is going to be a lot easier because it is one thin layer and it's one solid color
9:43
You just wax it once or twice a year and that's it. Whereas gel coat, you're going to have to
9:50
compound, buff, and wax it multiple times a year in order to try and keep the pores of the
9:57
gel coat full of wax and be able to preserve that color and keep the shine up. Whereas the paint
10:05
you just clean it, you wax it and it has that shine. It's vibrant. You don't lose the color as you do with the gel coat because of the fading because of how porous the gel coat is
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So in the end paint is going to give you that shinier high gloss high reflection mirror finish
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But at the same time is susceptible to chips and scratches opposed to gel coat which can be just as shiny
10:31
Not as shiny but it can look really really good But gives you that thicker durability and is harder to
10:38
repair compared to the paint. So when it comes to whether or not you personally should use either
10:44
gel coat or paint and which is going to be better for you, it's going to depend on the project
10:49
where it's going to be going on, and what you have available. So if you don't have the space and
10:55
the tools to be spraying paint, you don't have an air compressor, you don't have a spray gun, stuff like that, rolling and tipping paint is going to be a good option for you because it's going
11:03
to look really good. If you're putting something on the floor, I would not paint a floor because
11:08
paint is not as durable, you want to gel coat the floor because of the durability. But if you're
11:14
on the sides or stuff like that, rolling and tipping the paint can make it look really good. Whereas
11:19
if you don't have the ability, the spray gun compressor and all that stuff to spray gel coat
11:24
that's going to be the better option, depending on what the finish is that you want and how durable
11:30
you need it to be. So if it needs to be durable, go with gel coat. If you want it to look nice and
11:35
it's in an easier area, you could paint it
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