I'm with Et on this one!! I've built a strip and a S&G but opted to paint both projects. Some may think that painting is the easy way out but that is not necessarily true as paint has a wonderful way of showing up the slightest defects - especially if you decide to go with gloss black like I did for my Black Pearl.

So, you put all this time and effort into the perfect boat and you take it out and the first thing you do is ding it off the car rack - mark #1 and you haven't even hit the water yet. You lay it down on the beach rocks or concrete launch ramp, the wind catches it and slides it along - mark #2. You make it to the water and as you're paddling along you hear the unmistakable sound of epoxy/glass on sharp rock - screeeeeeee!! Oops - mark #3. And this is only Day One!!!

Like Et says, it's all about what you want out of the boat.

Here's my present snenario. I just put my Black Pearl back into the shop to retrofit a standard keyhole cockpit and skeg. While I am at it, I am going to repaint it. In the past, I've used spray on truck bed liner on spots of the deck where there'd be more wear and tear - under the bungees and paddle park. (See image below). This stuff is flat black, has a little more 'texture" than regular paint but is as hard as the hobs of hell. It also dries in 10 minutes or less. When I decided to repaint the Pearl this is what I went with!!

Some may say that I'm crazy but it's working out fine and, if I don't like how it turns out, I will simply sand it down and use the liner as a primer. But for the me, the most important thing is that the boat is well built, strong and does exactly what I want it to do. If it looks nice, then that is just gravy. If it doesn't, then, meh, what are ya gonna do!!

And that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

Sean

p.s. The flat black makes it look like a submarine - even more menacing than the gloss!!