Repainting or gel coating? Advice needed

Do you have pictures of cracks? Just to give us an idea?

I personally would not put a teak deck in my boat, due to the fact that they do get slippery when wet and also require much upkeep to keep them looking nice. I do agree with using nonskid on the entire front deck. As far as cost to repair the cracks it's impossible to give an accurate estimate without viewing the boat. It needs to be determined if the cracks were caused by water intrusion in the deck, improper gel coat application or inferior gelcoat products. If the cracks were caused by the gelcoat the gelcoat will need to be removed. If the cracks are from water intrusion those areas will need to be ground down through the cracks and possibly have the coring material replaced. If your boat was checked with a moisture meter it should reveal the nature of your problems.

I think Beau is the Post subject matter expert on the Post gelcoat issues.

I think it really comes down to just how bad the glecoat is.

Are you willing to live with some repairs or do you want mirror show room new?

I bet a mirror show room new foredeck and cockpit could run upwards of 15K, or more, on a 50 Post.

I would recommend getting an estimate from a reputable fiberglass repair shop and requesting that as an allowance on the purchase price.

He's not looking for a mirror finish, he's looking for all non skid......non skid hides a lot of things. But the cracking has to be prepped and fixed 100% properly. but it sounds like the typical gelcoat cracking issue that was going on in that era. I took care and ran one of them that was fixed several years prior and you couldn't tell the difference.

Wow, this gives us an impression of the gel coat issue. On my 46ft Post , I had on the entire fore and side deck in total about the same amount of cracks as you first picture, but not even that bad, you could hardly see them.

We grinded it down to the fiberglass, filled it with 3M marine filler, sanded it and painted it with Epifanes anti skid paint.

John's prices are always high.

Sounds like he's talking about the entire boat, hull included. Perhaps I'm wrong in that feeling. Also, he's looking for an "as good as new" result. Perhaps better than new.

At any rate this should be giving the OP the impression that this isn't an easy, put a few coats of paint over it, type of job and may be quite expensive. It should be a negotiating point and probably makes sense to get an estimate from someone seeing the boat and who would actually do the work. I'm curious as to what your survey said regarding this.

PtJude

Your cracking is pretty extensive. hopefully you will be able to get a "discount" on the purchase. I have seen worse though, where the gelcoat actually lifts at the cracks. Mine is a '98 with modest cracking principally in the cockpit and gunwales. I had an estimate of $100k to redo the whole boat. I may still have that done, but for now, on the cockpit floor, we cleaned the cracks, acetoned and applied 5 coats of interlux 2 part barrier coat a number of years ago. That has held up pretty well. I had the bottom sodablasted and barrier coated also. Both areas are doing just fine I've learned to live with the other cracking, which again is not as bad as yours. Its a shame this happened to Post - excellent boat otherwise. The cracking is all cosmetic, so I have been repeatedly told. I use a water meter (?) from time to time and everything continues to look dry underneath.

In the NE, I would certainly make sure you cover the boat in the winter to keep freezing water out of those cracks - otherwise, you're boat would start to look like our roads in NY!

See what the owner will discount the boat for. $100k seems awefully high especially in your neck of the woods, to fix the crazing and repaint the entire bottom (waterline up). Give Jarrett Bay a call in NC and send them the pictures and see what they'd quote to do the job. They love winter paint projects to keep their guys busy in the winter.

Good luck on your hunt. 1998 -2002 were the problem years I believe. According to an article I read in Soundings when this was going on, NJ Post identified somewhere in the neighborhood of 36 boats with this gelcoat problem. Don't know how many they repaired. But their old records should show what it cost to repair the cracks.

Looking at another forum, there look to be some really good buys out there

I ran one that was a 2001 50' Post and it was fixed by Post sometime around 2005 or slightly.

Sent you a PM

Congratulations, keep us POSTed with every step you go, we love it!!