After reading Grogs post above I went out to where I keep my boat and the local marina and did a bit of dock walking. I saw many examples of both paint and gelcoat. from what I could see the question of how well either held up was more based on color than what was used, gelcoat or paint. I saw plenty of scratched up examples of both and fade was a problem with dark gelcoat colors, but that would be more of how motivated an owner is about care. With both paint and gel the lighter colors looked better and had held up better than darker colors. Scratches in either coating were much more noticable on the darker colors. No worse on paint than gel, both tended to have light colors underneath the finish. I think if I were to recoat I would go with paint and a light color. That light blue is pretty. In regard to fade I think that the paint is much easier to care for on a yearly basis in that one can keep the hull looking sharp with less effort. The tip about using a paint that can be repaired easily is a great one.
