I'm planning on painting the sides of my boat with red Awlgrip. I'm going to be painting over red gelcoat. The gelcoat is faded but in good condition. Do I have to paint primer on the boat since I'll be painting the same color? Does the Awlgrip paint "stick" better to primer, than gelcoat? I do NOT want to sand or buff out the old gelcoat.Thanks!

I have a follow up to that. When touching up awlgrip, say bilge paint that has been chipped. What's best process? Can you just brush on the touch ups? Will it stick?

I've got a few Awlgrip jobs (Not Awlcraft 2000) under my belt and the prep work had to be meticulous , including full primer . You would not believe what problems the primer exposes and it's the foundation for a good , long lasting finish.
To be honest I've never heard of not priming for ANY sort of paint job . The only time I saw a case where primer was not used (in an Awlgrip application) was where a fresh clear topcoat was being reapplied over a well sanded and prepped old clear coat or where the applier wasn't happy with the finish and waited a few days to sand and reapply another coat of the same color.
As for the bilge touch up , based on what I've seen I'd say you're ok to just touch up with a fine brush but it might take a bit of building up . Use the brushing catalyst not the spray catalyst in that case.

Look into Quantum 99 paint. I've used it on 2 boats so far and does not require primer. I painted the bottom of the hulls with it and never had it come off.

from what i understand the topcoat does adhere to the primer better. also helps hide a lot of imperfections. i used awlgrip white primer when painting my boat and I'm glad i did.