Oxidized gelcoat

[BobHaze]

OK, so here's another Albin newbie (and still a Wannabee) question: Today we looked at our first 28 TE - the first one we actually went aboard, after reading beaucoup listings online. It's a 2001 and in pretty good condition, although it needs new cockpit bolsters, the fridge and microwave are both rusty and have to be replaced...relatively minor and normal stuff. But the dark blue gelcoat is very chalky, which I think means it's oxidized. The salesman said the owner had the boat compounded and waxed last spring but that it had gone all chalky again over the summer.
My question is: is this typical or at least common on Albins? Does it have something to do with the color application process used by Albin, and do most people have to paint their boats around the 12 or 13 year point?

[whwells]

Many of these boats do get repainted due to color fading. Often the repaint of choice is awigrip. That paint seems to be long lasting, strong, and an improvement in terms of the fading. Annual waxing is a big help. You may still be able to save your present factory gel coat paint. Welcome abroad.

whwells "Howard"

[Pitou]

Not just an Albin issue, but a colored gel-coat issue. A colored hull is pretty and sharp, but if it's gel-coat it's a lot of work keeping them up. It generally requires an annual compounding , polishing and waxing. Some have wet sanded the gelcoat to restore luster and can then keep up with polish and wax. To address this issue a large percentage of owners end up painting their hulls from the waterline to the rubrail. Popular paints are Awl Grip and Imron.

Lots of prior discussion on this subject can be found by using the "Search" function.

[jcollins]

I had mine wet sanded mine a few years ago. It is still beautiful. But, if you take that route instead of paint there is work involved. Polish/wax twice a year. In the long run paint would have been less expensive.

[kowal_53]

The white hull does not show the caulking affect as much as the dark colored ones do. (The color of caulking is whitish) So you could consider looking for a white one, or finding a boat that has been painted. I prefer the colored hulls, so I assume that when I get everything else up to snuff I would have paint job to do to complete the task.

I have attempted the restoration on mine, and wax it once a year. It is hard to do, and does not last very long. This year I was planning to paint it, when some other unforeseen request for money changed my plans. There always seems to be something more important than paint. (The down side of waiting until later to paint)

Should you decide to paint it, you should plan on spending anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000 to do it. There will be costs for hauling and launching the boat, stripes, and reapplying the name, Just remember when you decide to pretty things up, you will have other cosmetic issues you might want to address, which can make the entire job cost a bit more. (Gel coat, no skid, etc.)

I have heard that the paint can last for 8 to 15 years. However, one can freshen up the paint say in year 8 for less than the original paint job.

Once it is painted there will be maintenance, but i understand that it is a lot easier than what I am doing now.