Old fiberglas canoe

[GrizlyGarou]

I got an old fiberglas whitewater canoe a few years back.  It was free because the previous owner had misjudged the distance between two rocks and ripped a couple huge holes on each side and a couple smaller ones as well.  I'm guessing they repaired it right on the side of the river they were in then never used it again.

Anyway, I've removed all the nasty patches they did and started repatching it nicely. What I'm not sure about is what to do about the cracked gelcoat.  It has hairline cracks pretty much everywhere that go all the way down to the 'glass underneath.  I've looked at the prices for gelcoat, and I've looked at the prices of spray paint.  I'm not planning on keeping it in the water, so I'm thinking I might just get some high quality spraypaint and spray it after I scuff up the old gelcoat with some sandpaper.  Anybody ever do this before and have horrible results?  I don't want to do anything that won't last at least a season or two, but I'd rather not spend all my spending money on my 'free boat' (yes, I know that's an oxy-moron...)

[Coldfeet]

Years ago I had a old fishing boat I got for next to nothing. Being a glass boat it was a little rough to say the least. After patching a few dings what I did was spry painted it with a Automotive paint. It held up for a good 15 years. Where the cracks in the gel coating occured all I did was get a good primer sealer. I sanded the areas well to add tooth so the paint woud adhire and sprayed it with the primer. After drying I sanded and repeated the process filling the cracks and sanding untill it was flat. After all was said and done I layed on the paint. One thing to note is a canoe flexes much more than a fishing boat. With this I would think of adding a addative to the finish such as the ones used to paint bumpers on cars a flex additive used to be sold at one time and this allows the paint to move without cracking. You will need to do a little research into this but it should give you a good result.

[GrizlyGarou]

That's about what I ended up doing, only I managed to get my hands on some left over boat paint my father had laying around.  I sanded everything down, but I only had enough for one coat so it didn't come out perfect, but it keeps the water out for at least 6 hours.  If I was going to be keeping it in the water, I would have wanted another coat or two but it lives upsidedown on top of my trailer when I'm not fishing from it so the one works.  It looks really nice from about 20 yards away, but closer than that and you can tell it was the first time I did fiberglass work.  It floats, so I'm happy!