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I've got an early '70s Eastport I'd like to fix up, and was hoping for some recommendations of shops that can do good glass/gelcoat work. This is my primary fishing boat, so I don't have the time/desire to do the work myself. I live in Nofolk, VA, and keep the boat on the Eastern Shore, so anywhere in coastal VA, MD, or NC would be doable.
You're prolly better off doing the work yourself, as it's the type of thing that'll never payoff. You'll never make your money back if you gotta pay someone else to do the work - mainly because it's such crappy work. The resin part is easy, the sanding is insane ~ and, the more you sand, the nicer your work will look. If your boat has any spider-cracking, that will need to be sanded down before you can repair the area ~ so, that's even more sanding. The only way to stop the gelcoat from failing (spider-cracking), is to sand it off & recoat.
The only ppl I know who do repudable fiberglass work are either building boats in Manteo or building surfboards. The good thing is, you have Eastern Burlap/Fiberglass in Norfolk, so you can get your materials easily.
Jeff Murphy @ Production Off Road has done nice work on a cpl of old boats. They have a full-service body shop & are really experienced painters. Plus, he's a personal friend who can come to us & ask questions. We're gonna spray our 21ft Outrage (1972 #640) this winter, in his spray booth.
Matt,
how bad a shape is the boat in? It is amazing what you can do with rubbing compound and wax. If you have really bad spider cracking and want to paint, the prep work to have someone else do it would be expensive.
Thanks to all for the input. The exterior gelcoat has a good bit of cracking and discoloration, and is pretty much rubbed off at the low-point of the spine (glass is visible) due to beaching. There is also a fair amount of spider cracking and general wear on the blue interior gelcoat. There's one small area of compromised fiberglass on the bow gunwale from a piling collision. I would love to do this work myself but would probably screw it up, and would also probably finish the project sometime in mid-2017. Sounds like I might not have a choice, but just to humor me, can anyone ballpark what it would cost to have this professionally done?
