I am considering redoing the gel coat on my 13' whaler. It is a 1967 hull and the gel coat could use some work. Is it hard to gel coat a boat? About how long would it take to do the whole boat? I was initially planning on doing this over the summer when I am out of school, but I realized that I want to be on it not working on it during my summer. Also about how much should it cost?

There are alot of reasons why you would not want to gel coat a whole boat.

If you want to do a good long lasting job, prep it good, then give it a couple coats of ALGrip, use a 3 or 4 inch foam roller and a good brush for the corners.

If you go with white or a real light color, you can get a finish that looks like it was sprayed on.

If your not willing to do it right then take Barnaclebill's suggestion and use paint. If you go with Algrip do not spray it unless you have the complete safty equipment.

I didnt mean the entire boat just the outside of the hull. There are really just a few dings and small areas where the gelcoat is starting to chip off.

The best way to gel coat the hull is upside down, The gel coat will require the liquid wax to be put in it so that you would get a full cure, which means lots of fine sanding and then polishing with a buffer. It is a lot of work I have done several boats, Next time I will use Algrip.

Here was my first -- Left is fully cured the right is sanded and polished.

I didnt mean the entire boat just the outside of the hull. There are really just a few dings and small areas where the gelcoat is starting to chip off.

I was talking about the the outside of the hull, but you could do the inside also that way.

If you just want to repair a few small spots, then gelcoat is fine, but you will never get to where you can not see the repairs.

You will have to prep the surface, such as filling the holes and nicks with bondo, and sanding the entire surface of the whole thing with light, fine sandpaper. There is a brushing solvent to mix in the Algrip paint, which is a one part polyureathane. That allows you to roll and then brush, which is how some boats are done professionally. It comes out very shiny, and lasts a long time. That is your best bet! Gel coating a boat is not a job for someone who doesnt do this for a living. You can take it to someone, and it will look good, as Roland showed, but you really have to prep right and mix right and know how to apply and finish right, or it is a real waste of money and time. Remember, a bad surface prep, will look bad even if you do a good paint job.