Quote Originally Posted by vvfdfirefighter View Post
Spraying worries me but grinding all the oem gel off worries me more I guess. Knowing I can't layer new gel over old gel.

Ie. Changing hull color to white while keeping the freeboard blue.
You will need a power sander, as the job would be way to hard hand sanding. The good news is that gel is very thick, so it fills scratches well...meaning you can use a fairly coarse grit to speed things up. If the base gel is spider cracking, then it is best to take it down to the base of the original gel coat. If the original is not cracking, then it is not as important to remove all the old, just rough and thin it.

Spraying is best left to a good shop, as I have only done small gel jobs, and cannot imagine trying to spray an entire hull without the special mixing guns that only a large shop will have. It is a true art to get the catalyst mixed in the right amount for the temp. Also, gel comes without the surface wax agent to allow surface curing, so that has to be added in the correct amount before spraying.

Gel coat is definitely the hardest, most durable way to go, but check pricing to see if it is worth the extra abrasion resistence to you for the price it will cost.