www.iFourWinns.com

Hey all, I'm a new user to the site. I've been trolling around for the last 2 years or so seeking wisdom and salty advice from FW owners about my '06 258. I've saved countless dollars in shop fees by troubleshooting problems myself, and I've been emboldened enough to actually make repairs instead of paying the dreaded hourly shot rate at my local neighborhood marina.

In the winter of 2012 I allowed the service shop to make some minor gel coat spyder crack repairs to my hull. Keep in mind, the repairs were not needed, I was finding things for the shop to do to help them through the winter. 15 months later, 20% of my boat has the gel coat sanded off and a professional "glass man " has been brought in to fix the nightmare. They are now in the process of painting my entire boat from just above the rubrail to the waterline. Everything I've read says that if prepped properly, and applied by a professional, paint is a better option vs gelcoat for large finish repairs or repainting, but is not as durable as gelcoat. Can anyone provide some insight on paint vs gelcoat?

I apologize in advance for my first post being so long

My metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck

_________________
~Dmg
Growing older but not up
2006 Vista 258 " Cultural Infidel "

Previous
2008 H190

Paint is better only if you have a colored hull that is oxidized. Once the red or blue gelcoats oxidize it becomes a constant task of buffing, waxing etc. With a white boat you can bring it back to look acceptable if not perfect.
I had mine painted for this reason, there is no way the old maroon gel was coming back. I had it done in red Imron and it looks great. It does scratch just like a car paint job though, and you can't buff out scratches like with gel. It will hold the color far longer than any colored gel. My plan is to take it back to the paint shop every 3-5 seasons and have whatever scratches show up fixed. I don't miss trying to buff it to make it look good that's for sure. A big boat like yours is going to be EXPENSIVE to paint though. Here in NY its about 4500 to paint a 20', but of course everything costs more here.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Thanks for the feedback. The boat is blue, and was oxidized, so the colors were difficult to match with the gel coat. It was sprayed yesterday, so I should have it back just in time for the weekend. Another benefit of paint I think, no sanding and buffing after top coat. I'll let you know how it turns out

_________________
~Dmg
Growing older but not up
2006 Vista 258 " Cultural Infidel "

Previous
2008 H190

.....and the shop is covering the cost of the new paint job,

_________________
~Dmg
Growing older but not up
2006 Vista 258 " Cultural Infidel "

Previous
2008 H190

Good, what paint did they use?Imron, Awlgrip?

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

We just had the blue above our rub rail done in Imron. The blue color was computer matched to the rest of the hull. A perfect match and the finish is amazing. I highly recommend it. Will post before and after when I can.

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Jnizi

2007 Vista 338 "Better Yet"
Previously:
2007 Vista 258 " Just Right"
2005 Horizon 230

They used Imron MS600 Topcoat. they finished shooting it last night, and should be trimming and striping today. As you can imagine, im chomping at the bit to get out of work and see it. I'll let you know it turned out and take some pics. They came out shot the existing paint with a spectrophotometer to get the color, so I'm hoping it matches the FW Navy Blue

_________________
~Dmg
Growing older but not up
2006 Vista 258 " Cultural Infidel "

Previous
2008 H190

When we had ours done, it looked so different that my son and I walked past it in the lot when we went to pick it up! Several neighbors thought we bought a new boat....

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

We had the blue stripe on our boat painted about 18 months ago, I wish we had not waited so long.

_________________
John
2006 Four Winns Vista 278 (sold)

WOW !!!! that looks amazing. That FW blue really pops Nice job

_________________
~Dmg
Growing older but not up
2006 Vista 258 " Cultural Infidel "

Previous
2008 H190