I just bought a 1973 Sunfish sailboat, and after touching up a few rough spots on the hull, I want to roll a thin coat of epoxy over the whole thing to seal it well (there are spider-cracks here and there).

I'd like to tint the epoxy white and was wondering what I could use for a tint that would be available locally (we don't have a boat building supply place around here), such as auto supply stores or hardware or paint stores. I know I could get the proper tint from a place such as Jamestown Distributors or some other place, but if I can pick something up locally I can get on with the job rather than order and wait.

One other question - will white-tinted epoxy be white enough, like white gelcoat? And, (this makes 2 other questions) will it still need to be painted over for U.V. protection?

There is a sunfish forum for questions on restoration of these boats, but those guys are all poly/vinylester resin/gelcoat guys. I have epoxy resin on hand from my stripper project and would like to use that since I'm familiar with using it, and it rolls on real smooth. I heard gelcoat doesn't self-level as well.

Thanks for any help you can provide.