Topside paint coming off in sheets

[lizardheadone]

I WAS getting ready to clean, sand, and paint topsides but while I was scraping off some caulk, a large sheet of paint came off instead. I investigated and it looks like I have 6 coatings on the topside. The weak bond is between the 3rd and 4th coat. I know the problem more than likely lies within two categories: bad prep job and/or incompatible coatings. The 3rd coating does seem to be soft in some areas and hard in others, so I was thinking it was a 2 part epoxy primer are something similar because of the variability in hardness (bad mix) and it looks like it was rolled on and had a high build. Looks almost like latex paint in its thick texture. I was thinking to be absolutely sure of a solid paint system, I will have to scrape the paint down to the weak bond, clean very well, then sand down to gel coat, clean, coat with interlux Primekote and paint with 2 part paint. My question: Does this seem reasonable or do you know of better/easier method to solve this problem? Thanks. Pat

[tommays]

Its a bit of work to find a clean surface but the only way to ensure a good job

[oomfh]

I have always felt that once paint is applied over gel coat - you'll be chasing scratches for the rest of the time you own the boat. Painting over the gel coat was an easy and quick solution - until now. If it were me, I'd take it back down to the gel coat and either revive it or apply another layer of gel coat. If this is a DIY project, you might consider talking with the helpful people at Mini-Craft of Florida.
Short term pain, long term gain, yachti, yachti, yachti . . .