Yep. It's doable, but like Nick said, probably not worth it.

A lot of the pre-production motorboats and sailboats you see at boat shows are actually sprayed with marine polyurethane paints--the gelcoats just aren't that glossy.

I helped prep a canoe that got a new gelcoat on the bottom. The gelcoat was worn through to the kevlar, and the owner wanted new gelcoat. Here, though, some type of resin coat was necessary to seal in the kevlar. I don't think paint would have been a good idea in that case. For refurbishing a scratched hull, I'd recommend paint.

Shawn

: If "gelcoat" is applied to the outside of a boat
: it is essentially just another kind of paint. Since the stuff is not
: formulated to be used like a paint you can probably find better products
: for the application. For example varnish or paint.