hey Larry,

...My hull is pretty unfair with a lot of gelcoat crazing, etc - she's 40 years old, after all (grin)...

All I was really aiming for was a shiny finish that would look decent from a distance, to get the sort of look a boat like yours has would require way more time and effort than I'm willing to give it, and a perfect finish is only gonna get beat up when you really go places, anyway... In my next life, I think I'll go the bare aluminum route.. (grin)

All I did was sand down most of the old finish to the original gelcoat, and repair the most noticeable dings and crazing... Then I just laid the finish right over that... Probably would have worked fine if I was using a regular enamel paint, but the Alexseal is so thin, it doesn't fill in anything... After 2 coats, I was still seeing a lot of surface flaws, and of course a dark color like black shows them even more...

Still, it was looking decent, I was ready to simply slap on a couple of more coats and be done with it... However, there was a guy in the yard with me at the time who had done a magnificent restoration job on his old Trumpy motoryacht, he really knew his stuff regarding Awlgrip type paints... He suggested I do one more aggressive bout of sanding to level it out again, and I'm glad I did, made a big difference... So, basically, I wound up using the first 2 coats of Alexseal finish as my primer... LOL!

Put on 2 more coats, wish I could have managed one more.. After 4 coats, I was finally figuring out the right mix of reducer, I was always laying it on a bit too thick, and a close look will reveal a hint of brushstrokes that didn't level out. I think I could have nailed it with one final coat, but I was simply out of time at that point, and the weather was getting very un-cooperative... I was dealing with a lot of windy days while applying the finish coats, if I didn't have it on by about 0830 each day, I was screwed...

But, with a proper prep, and in controlled conditions, no doubt on a hull[s] like yours, you could produce a stunning finish... BTW, a little bit of that paint goes a long way, I would have had plenty for another coat or two with just one gallon of paint (plus the requisite catalyst and reducer, of course) Bought mine from Hamilton Marine, their price was right, and of course they always offer great service... Partway thru the project, I realized I needed more reducer right before the weekend, and they got it to me in time to continue...

best regards,

Jon