Re-Spraying over gel coat

Ford diamond white is about as close as you'll get i'd say. Quite a few Parkers are painted now.

Bear in mind that in order to get a good finish you will have to grind out and fill ALL the blemishes/cracks and flat the whole lot back to a perfect surface. Start by grinding out every crack/bullseye/chip, fill them with 2-pot filler then flat the repairs back until you can just still feel them with your fingers. Then use a block or a board and, starting with 240 grit production paper, flat the entire surface to an even matt finish so you can't feel the repairs any more. Then move to 400 grit and flat it all again until all the 240 scratches are gone. A VERY thin guide coat of black aerosol helps here - no more than an even dusting. If you really want a perfect finish, repeat with 600 then 800. Wash it down thoroughly with fresh water only, then spirit wipe and tack-rag the whole thing. Mask it all up and spray your primer - 2 coats. Guide coat it again and flat with 400 to remove all the guide coat. Wash it, let it dry, spirit wipe and then spray in the spots where you went through the primer. Flat the whole lot with 800, wash dry, spirit wipe. Re-mask, tack-rag and then spray your top-coats. Once the paint is hard, flat with 1200, then 1500 then 2000, then use a polishing machine with a good cutting compound (NOT T-cut, it's rubbish) to get the shine. If you do all that thoroughly and pay attention to the tiniest blemish, you'll end up with a finish Nigel Potter would be proud of. Above all, take your time with the preparation!!

I agree but this depends on the age of the boat. Also this guy is talking about doing it properly, not the half baked mess put on with a bass broom that people usually associate with a painted GRP boat!

As long as it looks the part i don't see a problem. Also some GRP boats are painted as standard.

Nothing wrong with doing this at all. On an old boat that's faded but is otherwise in good condition it's probably the best solution.

You'd need to use a plastic primer first, but other than that there is no differance in maintenance between GRP, Carbon or any other substrate once painted.

The disadvantages are a slight increase in weight as you'll not take enough gel off to negate this without rubbing through, and that any damage will show a differant colour should you choose one.