...why the massive change over and which do you prefer if you had a choice...some compnaies had great graphics in the gel...just asking..curious I geuss

most graphics these days could not be done to easily in gel. you have much greater color control and creative license in basecoat/clearcoat.

back in the day though there was some unbelievable talent doing gel. mostly out west, guys like Jim Pringle of eliminator.

Eliminator is still pretty impressive even with today's graphics....at least IMHO. Of course I'm a little biased because I have an old one but I would love to have a new one as well as I'm still impressed with the workmanship as well as the durability of in-gel graphics. I have no experience with painted graphics though so I can't speak comparatively.

There are still some guys out here on the West Coast doing some pretty incredible gel work. Ultra Boats in San Diego is probably the best you will see. Eliminator, and a few others are talented as well, but not to the level of Ultra IMO.

That being said, I still like paint better because you can do more with it.

1991 factory Imron paint.

Looks like new. No complaints.

6 in one hand and half a dozen in the other.................all depends on how long your gonna keep the boat 'cause the graphics will be out dated one day.You can always do graphics over graphics wheather it be gel or paint on the first graphics!

Produced in the last 25 plus years have been paint of some sort or another, not gelcoat. This is not a sudden trend by any means. It's just alot more practical. Ed

Maybe gel coat materials have improved over the years, but I was always told that colored gel coat was more prone to oxidizing or fading in the sun than paint is.