gelcoat or not to gelcoat?

[marcusn]

I'm in the process of covering two old thru hulls on my fiberglass boat.
Given both these patches are below waterline, I'll be painting them. Is gelcoat under the bottom paint necessary? I'm thinking I can simply paint-brush on a couple of layers of epoxy resin, sand, and then paint.

Thoughts?

mn

[chucklesR]

barrier, thickened epoxy, fair it, paint. Gelcoat is a waste of time when / where you can't see it/feel it.

[negrini]

Yeha ! Forget the gelcoat ! I did it to my old propeler system (tunnel and etc) when installed a saildrive. Epoxy it and you're fine ....