Eric wrote.
Can you find kids that will do that for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week,
for the 8 weeks it'd take?

A couple of hours in the afternoon and weekends, these kids are still in
school. 10 bucks an hour is good money to them.

How much training does it take to get them to
do it right, and is that included in the 350 hours?

On-the-job training. Removing gelcoat is hard, boring and monotonous work. The
supervisor (JJ) must be constantly looking over the shoulder.


Regardless of who does the work, is there "best time" to have the
refinish done?

It's cost less to refinish before the cracks go all the way down to the glass.
My point in posting is there are literally hundreds of 20 year old ships out
there that are in need of refinishing. Some of their owners would pop for a
refinish that cost less than 10K. I would think some enterprising repair shop
would go after this market. I have done refinish jobs for under 10K, when JJ
Glider Repair was in business, but my workers (2 sons) graduated from high
school and pursued more lucrative careers.

Three, part-time high school kids or one good *undocumented* worker would keep
a refinish job in the shop all the time. The owner would have to do the more
technical things, like mixing, spraying and inspecting. After that, it's just a
*gel-coat removing party*, followed by a *contouring party*, followed by a *wet
sanding party*, and then finish up with a *Buffing party*.


JJ Sinclair