Poly Glo Works!

[Gil Weiss]

With the sudden change to nice weather here is SE Penna, I brought Steppin' Up home last Thursday. I took off her winter covers and went to work Saturday and Sunday getting her ready for launch. I keep the mast, boom, motor and all other parts, etc at my house so all that stuff is ready. I just need to prepare the hull.

I gave the bottom its annual coat of shark white Aquagard (great bottom paint) and sanded and Cetol'd the teak. Then I did the hull sides for the first time using the Poly Glo 2 part system. The cleaner was easy and worked well and the acrylic liquid ( 5 coats ) went on easy - no buffing or rubbing. The brown sheer strip never looked so good in the five years I have owned this boat. I posted pictures in the CP16 Gallery.

I need to do the topsides and I am all set! Anyone want to buy a buffer, rubbing compound and wax?

[rmonsma]

Gill,

Thanks for the Polyglow report.  I purchased my 1993 CP23-3 last fall and just finished buffing and compounding the hull.  Although it went ok I must admit that the Polyglow sounds pretty good.

How many CP owners use this product?  How well do you all like it?

Do you reapply every year?

Does it build up?  If so how do you remove it.

Has anyone else had long term experience with Polyglow?

Sorry Gil, the buffer is yours to keep if only for the good memories it brings.

Roger

[Gil Weiss]

Roger,

Google "poly glo" and read some of the messages on posted on another sailing BBS. They came up titled "read messages" on the first page of the Google list. Answers to your questions and some good information.

I need to get fender covers now based on what was posted in these messages. I am glad I found this out.

[Bob23]

I used Poly-Glo on my SeaPearl 21. It worked great, went on easily, and lasted all summer. The next spring, I decided to clean her up a bit using the cleaner- bad idea- the cleaner removes PG pronto. I reapplied 5 more coats and she looked great when I sold her last fall.
   For "Koinonia" (1985 23/2), last spring I gave her topsides a hand wax job using 3M wax. Didn't take all that long. She shone all summer long. Why didn't I use PG? Well, don't know. The 23's glass was in better shape than the Pearls was.
   This year, I'm doing the same thing. The 3M seems to last a long time.
   Fair winds, Bob

[rmonsma]

Hi Bob,

Which 3M wax did you use.  I just waxed my 23-3, for the first time with the 3M wax with Scotchgard.  The bottle made it sound like the best wax on earth.  Smells nice too.  Kinda like drinking a tropical fruit drink.

I read that you should stay away from Caranuba.  The new synthetic waxs are much better.  Thoughts?

Roger

[mike gartland]

Haven't tried Poly-Glow but did the hull (above water line) of my 1989 CP-23/3 with Vertglas, a similar product, last fall and it has held up very well for the first 6 months.  I put on on 6 coats and it has shown no signs of losing its original shine after many sails (yes, we sail all year round here on the Gulf Coast) and the abuse from fender rub against our slip finger pier.  The only thing I 've found that Vertglas doesn't like is acetone; it takes the shine away instantly.  I would experiment with acetone on Poly-Glow before attacking any stains with it just to be safe.

Mike

[multimedia_smith]

Hi Gill,
So glad to hear that your season is about to start... ours is ending...  summer (heat, humidity, alternating calm or thunderstorm mode)... went out yesterday though... great conditions 10-12 and fairly cool... we still have some fun left.

Interesting about the poly glo stuff.  A lot of people swear by it.  Anything that reduces the elbow grease factor should be heartily considered. 

I have been using the Star Brite marine polish with Teflon... I first got it from West Marine, but then I found it at Wal Mart.  It seems to seal the water out of the gel coat (I trailer sail, so I don't have bottom paint)... Since it's teflon, it should make the boat go faster... and as a bonus of the non-stick surface, we can fry eggs directly on the deck in July...

Enjoy the season.
Dale

[Paul]

Has anyone tried it on their cars' paint?  What's good for the goose...


For that matter, is it OK on painted boats?

Paul
PS Hope this doesn't go too far off topic.

[spaul]

Hi All you PG users,
I tried PG a couple of years ago myself and find it excellent. It is in fact an acrylic floor polish with UV inhibitor. Auto places use a similar product to spray on the engine and in the compartment to make it shine for re-sale.
The product is very easy to use and the cleaner is designed to get you down to bare fiberglass, I wouldn't put the cleaner on auto  body paint however. When you find dark stains I've used Softscrub and in an emergency the PG cleaner, then just start re-applying until you get the thickness up with the original coating.
When touching up late in the year or next year just clean with "boat soap" and re-apply two or three coats of PG and you're good to go.
On the subject of synthetic wax, it works better than natural organic wax because the molecules are much smaller and will fill the microscopic voids in the wax or paint instead of bridging over them. The synthetics are also self polishing instead of the need to make them melt in order to spread them as is the case with Carnuba waxs which are made from palm tree byproducts and their molecules are very large.
I share the need for either all white fenders or fender covers, I find the black tops on my fenders continue to leave rub marks that bug me a lot. Have to work on that when the wind stops blowing.
I may experiment with the grocery store acrylic floor polishes and compare them to PG, they are much cheaper by the way. I'll post it here with any results. I like the ease of application, just so much easier than cleaning actually. Have enjoyed your posts and invite you all to visit our sailing association web site.

www.lakemonroesailing.com

I'm a past Commodore (twice) and am extremely proud of our sailing marina and our fine people here in South Central Indiana. You'll note the link to our new web cams that a friend of mine and I have been working on for about a year now. It's still a beta or work in progress and will only get better. So enjoy the weather site and web cams. Any ideas appreciated. I think if you'll click on the lightening link you'll be surprised. When storms are in the area one can go on line at the club (we introduced wireless internet last summer) and monitor storms and especially lightening activity and it's movement.
Sorry for getting off subject.
Go Polyglow for our old but wonderful boats.

Steve Paul

[Paul]

Steve,

Nice web site!!  I especially like the chart.  Watch out for the edge of the world.

Paul

[Craig Weis]

This is just my opinion but the thing with poly glow type brightener's is that they need to be applied to a clean, a very clean surface. This staff will brighten up even a heavy oxidized surface...and what do you have after an application? Still oxidized. Shine over dirt? Maybe but how good is this? skip

[Gil Weiss]

Skip,

This first step in the PG process is to clean your boat with their cleaner. This stuff worked great. I had a few stubborn tree related stains that I used a scotch brite pad on.

The PG is a polish not a brightener. All I know is that my boat never looked as good as it does today!
I prefer the concept of adding material rather then compunding off material from my chaulky looking fiber glass.

I will see how it holds up.

[spaul]

Hi Skip,
Gil is right in pointing out the PG cleaner. If you did nothing else, just buying and cleaning your boat with this liquid compound will give you incredible resuls, even if you wanted to hand polish or buff the boat. Every single bit of oxidized glass will be removed and the boat looks incredible when done cleaning. The PG finish coat isn't a polish nor a brightener as Gil points out. It is a highly reflective acrylic finish that simply reflects light, repels dirt and smoothes out the glass finish. If you or anyone out there has an older or oxidized boat you should seriously consider giving it a try.
If you wonder how it will look use some "Future" or similar self polishing floor finish and try a spot. You can always remove it with ammonia or acetone.

Great posts,
Steve

[Craig Weis]

Well I'll have to give Poly Glow it a try on a clean hull test area.

Since I wax on , wax off over the bottom paint twice and leave the third waxing on [not rubbed off] every season the wetted surface of Comfort and Joy has no loss of paint nor grassy growth or zebra muscles. The paint is the factory coat only. Still in pristine shape. The only zebra muscles are on my outboard.

Everybody have a good sailing season.

Today we have 37 deg F with stiff North winds and dampness.
We'll get there eventually.

[rmonsma]

Hi Skip,

Am I reading your post correctly?  You don't use bottom paint and just rely on wax to keep the critters and crud from growing?  Do you leave your boat in the water for the season?

Roger