Thread:

Taking off paint to original gelcoat

Hi everyone,

I am a newbee to the jet boat world and am looking at a 1974 Sleekcraft 18' that has been painted. While looking over it I noticed where there were scratches that there is silver metal flake which I would love to get the boat back to. The overall boat appears to be in very good condition until I looked underneath and noticed 2 small drywall screws that are sticking out the bottom where someone was mounting supports for the seats.

My first thoughts are to get the boat blasted with soda, walnuts, or plastic bead to get the paint off the boat and to the original gelcoat layer and then this is where I am not sure what to do next.

Would someone be able to fix the few cracks, gouge, chips, and screw holes and then apply new gelcoat to make it look like new? Am I looking into a HUGE money pit boat if I go this direction. Is this something I could do myself as I have restored a couple GTO's from the ground up doing the bodywork myself. Below is a picture of it in current stage.

I would love to get the boat back to how she was when she was brand new especially with it being silver metal flake which I love. Let me know guys as I am a new to this and willing to learn and hopefully not the hard way LOL

Thanks,
Tim