Fiberglass/gelcoat repair question

In Arizona we land on runways with lots of rocks. Rocks probably help to
create some of our awesome conditions but they really do a spanking on the
gelcoat.

My LS-8 has a fiberglass tail fairing....compound curves and part of the
tail overall. The rocks are thrown into it from the front and kicked up
from the tailwheel into the back section both causing substantial damage
(chunks out of both front and back) to the fairing.

So....every couple of years I turn the fuselage over and do some minor,
non-structural repairs to the fairing. The past couple of years have been
especially harsh and so I took down the gelcoat to the glass well beyond the
damaged section, glassed in a new and slighty beefier fairing at both the
front and back sections. Having used gelcoat to finish the job the last
time I spent way more time sanding down the gelcoat than the rest of the
repairs.

So my question is.....is there a simpler way to do this? Prestec or some
other paint maybe? Does the fact that it takes me so long to finish the
gelcoat mean that I am doing it all wrong?

Thanks for the help in advance!

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix