Painting bottom of boats

[molsea]

Hi

Forgive me for this not being a RIB but there are some experts on here that will know what the best way forwards is!

We're looking to re-paint the bottom of the dinghy in the attached photo.

The gunwales will be redone with blue flowcoat.

I believe the bottom is gelcoat.

What can we put on it to make it shiny white again?

Thanks.

[steco1958]

Have a look at reactive resins web site

[Phil M]

Start with polish and see how it looks. Avoiding painting can only be a good thing. I had a similar looking problem on my rib and sanded starting with about 240 grit on the nasty bits, working throught 400, 800 etc up to 1200, then farecla Profile 300, followed by farecla Profile Gelcoat Restorer & Wax. It wasn't a perfect finish and took a while, but was a massive improvement on the original finish. I'll try to dig out some photos this evening.

Phil M

[Phil M]

Photos as promised.

Before.....


After (a long while after). I did flow coat the keel over the worst damage but figured an orange peel finish there was no real problem. The red stripe is vinyl trim tape.



Phil M