Newbie looking for fglass paint advice

I am new to canoeing in general...A friend of mine had a fiberglass canoe laying around and i decided to take over his forgotten project. I recently smoothed it out sanded it and patched several cracks. Now i believe I am ready for paint. Do i NEED to add a gel coat prior to paint? or would i be able to use regular automobile primer? Also what type of paint could I use????

Don't apply gelcoat first. Use a one- or two-part paint from someone like Interlux. Former is cheaper, latter is expensive, tricky to apply, but amazingly durable.

Or you could use tinted gelcoat for the best of both worlds. No painting involved. But gelcoat won't self-level like paint. You'll have to sand, buff, etc., for many many hours to get a smooth finish.

Bottom line best bet: two coats of Interlux one-part polyurethane paint over two coats of Interlux primer.

Good luck. Post pictures!