Matching paint to existing gel coat

[Spike Hunter]

Guys,

I was wondering if you could tell me what is the best color match paint for the gel coat (Interlux) or Algrip. I am painting a bow tank and would like it match as best as possible.
Thanks,

[Buju]

Awlgrip's oyster white used to be the best bet...
Since US Paint sold the Awlgrip line to Akzo a few years back, this may, or may not still be the case.
If no one here has the answer, you could just go to your nearest W.Marine or other dealer and get color cards for both Awlgrip and Perfection and bring em home to place against your gelcoat... allthough the chips are just approximations, they'll get ya damn close.

[JeremyD]

I just did awlgrip offwhite and it was pretty darn close to the gelcoat color. enough that you have to get close to see where the paint starts.

[CaptPatrick]

The Awlgrip Oyster White is the closest color match to the original gelcoat, but that doesn't mean that the Awlgrip paint itself is the best choice of paints...

Virtually any paint can be matched in color to achieve the Oyster White. In terms of durability and repair, Imron is hard to beat as a topside paint and, at least in my opinion, is far more preferable than anything that Awlgrip makes. Imron is a maintainable paint, which means that you do have to seal and buff it out occasionally after the first year, much the same way you would with gelcoat. In a liquid state, Imron is thinner than Awlgrip so it should be applied in two coats about 40 minutes to an hour apart. Properly maintained, this would give you a 15 to 20 year life expectancy of the product.

The most desirable quality of Imron is it's ability to be repaired and blended to yield an invisable repair, even when done by a non-professional painter...

[Rocky]

I painted my topsides with #55769U Imron, which is Not the 5000. The 5000 goes on like mud and cannot be polished. It turned out very good and fairly closely matched my 1970 B31's oem gelcoat. Excellent stuff.
Rocky.

[Raybo Marine NY]

glad to hear it worked out for you Rocky

[lobsta1]

I just did awlgrip offwhite and it was pretty darn close to the gelcoat color. enough that you have to get close to see where the paint starts.

Jeremy,
How did the redo of the hull stripe & vinyl come out? I was one of the ones that replied on the hull truth.
Al

[Raybo Marine NY]

the other thing not mentioned yet is that if you were to provide a sample from your boat your local DuPont jobber or paint shop could match it exactly for you.

[Rocky]

Thanks again Raybo, here are some pictures of the topsides. The match is pretty good to gelcoat.
Rocky.

[JeremyD]

Jeremy,
How did the redo of the hull stripe & vinyl come out? I was one of the ones that replied on the hull truth.
Al

I didn't end up doing it yet - I had emergency gall bladder surgery - that knocked me down for three weeks - Good times...

Here's a shot of the cockpit covering boards I redid in awlgrip off white - apparently not as good a match as oyster white - but still I am very happy the was they came out.

[Spike Hunter]

Thanks for all the insight on the paint colors.

Does anyone have a close match with Interlux? What are your thoughts on using Interlux paints?

Thanks again,

[Rocky]

Peter, I was told by several boat yard people the Interlux line of paints they would never touch, at least for topcoat products. Awlgrip and Imron started out as commercial airline products (there composition) and I would go with those, either one. The Imron 5.0 VOC is repairable and will look great for a long time.
Rocky.