Red gelcoat oxidation tricks?

[krush]

I have a 26ft red welcraft. The top decks have been painted and aren't a problem, but the hull sides are a little chalky. It needs a decent wet sand--but I just spent the last few days pulling and rebuilding the engine and I want to stick her in the water.

Does anybody know of any shortcuts (aka snake oil) that I can rub on the gelcoat that ill look shiny for a short time? I don't mind reapply after a couple weeks.

This is just a hold over until I get time to do a decent wetsand/polish and wax. Regular rubbing compound and a buffer isn't going to cut it...I spent an hour doing a spot today and not worth the effort.

It's a pretty small area...about the front 2/3's of the hull sides.

 

[Avenger]

How about some ATF?

 

[krush]

How about some ATF?

been there, done that....30wt on the deck before it was painted--actually has rhino liner on it haha (it had nonskid finish) actually worked quite well for a few weeks. It was just a little slippery when anchoring. It went into the rough surface and shined!

 

[magnawake]

Product called "Poly Glo". It has been used to seal paint and gelcoat surfaces. Its a 2 part system that 1st cuts the layer of oxidation, then the 2nd part seals the surface. It's will look brandy new. I had white streaks coming from my sun deck roof onto my isenglass windows. I treated the roof and it shined like new. Also sealed the paint. No more oxidation. No more streaks. A friend treated his whole boat. What a difference. It's like majic. Although it is hard work to remove the oxidation layer.

 

[mdshore]

wetsand and buff . if that wont work everything else but painting it is a temporary pipe dream.

I hope you all are kidding about 30 wt. thats pretty ghetto.

 

[krush]

Pate, thanks for the recommendation. I'm going to give the Poly Glow a shot. Buffing and sanding is kinda hard around the lifting strakes. The kit was pretty inexpensive on amazon. I'll report back!

 

[jim rosenthal]

You could try Rejex, too. It works pretty well. I think it costs less than PoliGlow, too.

 

[rmatt]

Armor all

 

[Paul Gwiz]

I had a 32' carver with that same chalkey sides. I used Cascade automatic dish detergent ( granuales) I worked really well, it got to boat sparkly & all the chrome rails looked great. I mixed it pretty hot, It heats up on its own, IF you doubt me just get a handful & mix in some water it will heat up right in your hand. 1/2 bucket of very hot water & 1 cup of detergent ( add more for a hotter solution )

It will leave the boat pretty much spot free, the top side of this boat was black with mildew when I got it. this trick works well & is very cheap, as to 20.00 a quart hull cleaner.

My nephew used ATF on a bayliner he had It shined like crazy & pick up dust like crazy too.
as said in an earlier post ATF / 30wt is super ghetto......

 

[Beckytek]

X2 on the polyglow. I did the whole boat this spring and I can't believe how good it looks. Much easier than waxing, no buffer required. It dries in a minute and I put 5 coats on one side of the hull in one day.

 

[boatwright]

penatrol will give a nice shine for a month or two and will not interfere with your plan to wet sand at a future time. just wipe on with a damped rag. plus its a great addative to make paint or varnish flow out

 

[krush]

Poly Glow should be here tommorow and I'll try it out. Here's a before picture:

 

[krush]

I did some slight wetsanding 400 then 600 then cleaned and applied a bunch of coats of poly glow. We'll see how it looks tomorrow. So far it looks much better.

On a side note, I did a little google'n and some fiberglass camper guys say Zep Wet Look works well and appears to be just like poly glow. Who knows...the kit I got off amazon will last me 4+ years.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f56/check-this-out-not-poliglow-time-will-tell-43004-44.html

 

[rsmith]

I see they talk about it turning yellow and stripper for it. Reminds me of when the airplane guys used to use Johnson's floor wax to sell the planes.

 

[luckydave215]

Polyglow has a rep for turning yellow and splotchy, looking like a skin disease, and being a bitch to remove. Practical Sailor had a big write up about it a couple years ago.

I see they talk about it turning yellow and stripper for it. Reminds me of when the airplane guys used to use Johnson's floor wax to sell the planes.

I wouldn't be surprised if Polyglow IS Johnsons floor wax.

 

[krush]

We'll see how it lasts. It's on the hull sides and semi shaded. I don't think the boat has that many years left anyway. At this point it is worth the risk. The other options were not practical.

 

[magnawake]

Most people use Poly Glo only when its a last resort. Also the instructions state you need to reapply every year. Its easy to not apply the 5-7 coats it calls for initially as well. Its also hard to make it uniform. When you get over a years worth of wear, then you will start to see areas you didnt get coated enough. The thing to do is, every year wash it good, then put another coat on. It starts to look new again. I would say its more a "mop and glo" floor product. Even mop and glo needs to be re coated periodically.

 

[krush]

Turned out all right. You can see a little bit of white down on the lifting strakes because I didn't wet sand them. I did a little wet sanding on the hull sides before poly glow....not as much as I should've, but I'm happy with the results.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/969331_10101781343245713_1366486647_n.jpg

 

[Nonchalant1]

I used Poli Glow on my 1998 Mastercraft ski boat gelcoat. The boat sits out with its stern in the sun all day all summer long and after 14 years in the sun the gel coat was all light colored and chalky. I wet sanded it with automotive fine rubbing compound, then used the Poli Prep cleaner and then put on 7 coats of Poli Glow. Each coat goes on really quick and you recoat quickly too, like every hour. I couldn't believe how good it looked, but I figured only sitting in the sun all summer would tell the tale. The boat gets a lot of use including tubing with kids, wake boarding with me and kids, and just running the boat to town or out for a ride. This is in a fresh water river in Illinois.

Below are pictures of the boat as I'm hauling it out for winter today. Incredible! No yellowing, no spots, no worn off areas, just looks almost new still. I'll put one new coat on next Spring like they recommend and use it all next summer again and report beck here. Maybe it's only this good on gel coat and in fresh water, but I'm impressed.