Just my .02c...again. If I was in the boat rebuilding business I think I could make money rebuilding your boat for 10k with the TRADITIONAL MATERIALS that the boat was originally constructed with (polyester resin, plywood and fiberglass cloth (stitchmat). I could NOT make money doing it to tj309's standard of synthetic laminates and epoxy resin. As I mentioned in my thread about rebuilding my 18 I-O Ihave right around 3k in the build and I did it all myself I would hesitate to try and estimate the amount of hours invested but I work slow and I have a full time job and it takes me about a year and a half to do a rebuild ( I have done 3). As far as paint sticking to gel, it will assuming the surface prep is done correctly. Approximately half the total time of my rebuilds have been quality time with a D-A sander and a MOUNTAIN of used sandpaper. I use epoxy primer on whats left of the gel coat after it is smooth. As far as cutting the deck I did not find removing the deck all that difficult but my boat was nearly stripped when I got it. I needed to get the old rusty steel fuel tank out anyway and that was the easy way to do it....those things are encased in flotation foam and REAL hard to get out IMO.
