Painting Over Gelcoat

By Matt Claiborne

Your preparation will depend a lot on the type of paint you use. Will automotive paint stick? Can you paint over gelcoat with house paint?

Automotive paints are designed to be sprayed over metal using a spray gun. So if you’re looking for something to stick to gelcoat, they might work—but then, they might not.

Either way, you’re unlikely to be saving much money, if any, compared to a yacht finish.

The point is that there are plenty of companies making excellent topside finishes for boats. 

The ones that are DIY-friendly are easy and reliable to apply and produce beautiful results.

A few of the companies to look into include TotalBoat from Jamestown Distributors, Petit, and Interlux.

The benefit of using these marine paint products comes from their availability at marine suppliers and their support and knowledge bases.

If you care about the quality of the final job, don’t skimp on the product, and don’t take shortcuts or try to save time.