18 - thin gelcoat, needs re-done
 

Bought an 87 18' the other day after getting rid of my lxc...solid boat but my gelcoat is shot. It's obviously had a ton of sanding done, because I started seeing glass waves before the oxidation came off in some places with 800. I found a place called spectrum that sells what they say is the correct gelcoat for an 86-88.

Are there any downsides to using this brand? Also, should the white topside come back easier than the red? It's chalky as well, but appears to have been sanded less.

If I'm only doing the red, is it still okay to roll it with duratec? I'd like to avoid spraying.

Gelcoating is going to be a sh*tload of work and may end up not coming out anywhere near as good as you hope for. Have you considered re-painting instead ?
BTW , the gas tanks in Donzis of that age are a serious concern . How is yours , or has it already been replaced ?

I have a friend trying to convince me to repaint it with imron, but I'm still trying to decide. I figure the prep work for painting far outweighs the finishing work with gel coat, but I haven't ever done any gelcoat. I was hoping to roll gel on the red only if that's all that's bad, but if I'm mistaken, please let me know.

I've read about the tanks, and mine doesn't have any evidence of leaking (YET). I do have a two post lift, so removing the deck doesn't scare me. I was considering doing it over the winter as preventative maintenance, and through bolting/reinforcing it while I'm in there like I've sen on some sites.

I've never done a re-gel before either but I have done a few paint jobs . Of course it's all in the prep no matter what . There was a (late) member over on the donzi.net who totally re-built an all red Testa Rossa C22 and I got tired just reading about all the time that went into the re-gelcoating but he was meticulous and it came out beautifully .
There is an excellent glass guy here (Glassdave) who hopefully will see this , plus there's a lot of stuff on gel versus paint that's already been discussed. Have a search of the fiberglass and paint section , that's where most of it is .

When I had some heat damage repaired on my 1983 22 Classic (restored in 1998) - I had the same issues. Even the areas not damaged were almost through the gel coat. I went with the Imron paint route and it was perfect. Most people thought it was original gel.