Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

I have an older boat that wasn't cared for properly. The gel coat is just about gone. I haven't tried anything yet. Do I start by trying to buff it? Or do I just strip it off and redo it? Has anyone had any experience with this? I would like to do this over the winter. Would it be better to hire it done? And, if so, who would i check with? I'm full of questions. If anyone out there can help me, I would sure appreciate it.  Thanks  Mike

On many boats, this is a tricky job from what I've been told by boat company employees and body experts. Hiring it done is probably expensive, but for me, not sure I would try. Some of us are good at this type of stuff and some aren't. That would depend on your comfort level of course.

Don Stevens does this for a living and might be willing to answer some questions about doing this type of job. He has offered some good advice in the past regarding having a pro do things verses a do-it-yourself project.

His company is over near Kalamazoo in Cooper.

COOPER BOAT REPAIR LLC
8135 DOUGLAS AVE UNIT B
KALAMAZOO MI 49004
269-382-2525

Thanks for the advise Dan. I also got a message from Wonderland Marine. Looks like I can get a couple opinions. If anyone else has advise, I'm very open.

If Wonderland does this type of work (my bad for not knowing that - sorry Ralph - guess we need to go over some of the other work you guys do out back in that big building :) ), they are probably closer to you. Wonderland can probably recommend and get materials also.

Is the coat metal-flake or poly-flake? I had an old ranger that had metal-flake and I was told that couldn't be buffed, only stripped and redone. My newer boat with poly-flake has some miner to significant fading. I wet sanded and buffed and went through that process. BUT it looks really good, I imagine about what it looked like in '89. Whatever you do, do not just through a coat of clear coat on it, it will fade and turn kinda white in a short time.