Faded finish.. Need a paintjob?

[kenf1111]

Hi,
Our suncat, (Idle Hours, 2004) is painted green and looked sort of ok when we bought her a year or so ago. I tried to buff up and polish her with recommended products. We used her in Narragansett Bay in RI last season and love her. Last week I took her to a professional detailer and he compounded and buffed her up. I just called and he told me that it buffed up real nice but then it rained. After she dried she was dull again. We think she needs a new coat of paint. (by the way, he did not charge me, but I gave him some $ anyways.
Has anyone else had this happen. Any suggestions.
i cant remember what I used on her last year but it came recommended from West Marine.. And ,, the fellow that just work3ed on her is quite competent and is a bit perplexed...

Anyone have any suggestions.?
Anyone know anyone in RI who is reasonable regarding painting.?
thanks and have a great day!
Ken Fallon

[bfelton]

Before repainting, try Presto Gelcoat Rejuvenator.  Here's the site: http://prestopro.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=30&osCsid=91e2b20c6f591b8944b082ed4c80b613.  I used some on my very oxidized Flicka and it worked quite well.  I did a small section on the stern to test it, and 8 months later it looked great.

Bert Felton

[skip1930]

Hand buff the fiberglass one square inch at a time with Mequire's #49 compoind and after at least three times around when she's looking good, than wax her up. At least three times around again. I use Mother's Wax...

Here is the criteria. Ask yourself as you work each square inch and you see a speck in the fiberglass, "Was this here from the factory?" If not than keep working that speck until it's gone.

There is no easy way other than spending $$'s [which has been removed from the pool by the currant administrtation] and have somebody else do this for you with an electric buffer and many hours. IMHO.

skip.

[Tom Ray]

Is it faded like this?



I used Poli-Glow and it turned it into this:



That was in April of 2010. It looked like that for a year and still looked pretty good at almost two years. I recoated it in February of this year. On close inspection, it's not as good as a quality compound/wax job, but it passes the 20 foot test with flying colors and does pretty well on the 5 foot test. That's good enough for me! Oh, did I mention it is easy?

Sincerely,
The Head Jib Trimmer

[skip1930]

Typically what happens when a 'Poly' anything goes over oxidation, IT LOOKS GREAT.
But in reality if no oxidation is removed then the oxidation is still under the shiny 'poly'. Until it's no longer shiny.

It's like that car polish [ forgot the name ], that after 100 car washes is an automatic car was, it still beads.

I think that's what we are looking at here. Better living through chemistry. skip.

[Tom Ray]

That's right, Skip. Poli-Glow basically makes a shiny layer on top of the oxidized surface. It tricks our eyes. That's OK with me. I never wanted a blue one anyway, mostly because I don't want to maintain a colored hull. My wife likes the blue hull.

OK, shiny and blue it shall be, with the least possible amount of effort. This is our boat at the Sun Cat Nationals, about a year and a half after my Poli Glow application:



Still looks shiny and blue! It was starting to fade and peel by the time I recoated it in February of this year. I have before and after pictures from that treatment, but have not put them on the website yet.

Giving it a Poli Prep bath and wiping it down with Poli Glow every year or two is the kind of maintenance I can handle. The Poli Glow lasted about as long as the shade tent canvas, which I also replaced this year. Keeping it under a tent definitely helps prolong the life of the Poli Glow (and everything else).

[Salty19]

I have to admit the polyglow seems to make it shine!  What I don't like is it can peel and once you apply it it's hard to remove it (for painting or a true polish job).
That's just what I've heard anyway, never used it.

Skip, no need to pay the man to polish your boat.  The investment in the polisher, pads, compounds, polish, etc is probably about the same as one pro polish on a small boat like the Suncat. Maybe less.  It's not hard to do with a random orbital polisher if you understand what pad and compound to use in what order. I could probably restore badly faded suncat to like-new in a day. One compound pass would take 20-25 mins. Of course something bigger like a CP19 takes twice as long.

Yep..the easy way is definitely covering with polyglow and the hard way is restoring a smooth finish by hand or machine.

[Tom Ray]

I had the same objection to Poli-Glow, Salty. It turns out not to be a problem.

If you leave Poli-Glow on a boat for enough years, it will indeed start flaking off. The solution is Poli-Prep, their cleaning agent that takes apart the Poli-Glow polymer. Any old, flaky stuff will come right off. If it does not come off, it's still good and can be recoated with fresh Poli-Glow. Poli-Glow also dissolves itself, so the new will chemically bond with the old when recoating.

I did not leave mine until it was flaking away, but it was close. Before recoating it, I washed it down with the Poli-Prep and it seemed to take off most of the previous application. The remaining Poli-Glow blended right into the new coats just like they said it would.

I'm a happy customer. I would not recommend it for a real showpiece boat like Don's Highland Lass. Some boats need to look good even from one foot away. My Sun Cat is not one of those boats.

[skip1930]

Much like 'paint' on steel, it's really iron phosphate sticks to steel, and paint sticks to iron phosphate.

Iron phosphate as an acid that dissolves a bit of the iron in steel, and than redeposits inself back to the iron in steel as a phosphoric crystal that chemically bonds with steel and provides a 'coating' that paint can adhere to, this Poli-Prep, cleaning agent takes apart the Poli-Glow polymer. Any old, flaky stuff will come right off. If it does not come off, it's still good and can be re coated with fresh Poli-Glow. Poli-Glow also dissolves itself, so the new will chemically bond with the old when re coating.on fiberglass.

So what I'm saying is the job is no better than what's underneath it.

Dahhh! come on skippy you knew that.

[kenf1111]

Thank you all so much. Im going to get some poli-prep, clean her up and then try some Poly-glo. I will try in a small spot on the stern first though.. I will post my results..

So happy to be a suncat owner.. ! What a blast we had last year and cant wait to get her in Narragansett Bay again this year!!
Ken Fallon

[Tom Ray]

Ken, you should just buy the kit that has a bottle of each and the sponge covered with chamois that you use to wipe on Poli Glow. There is also a small square of chamois for getting areas where the sponge will not fit.

[Bob23]

   I used Polyglow on my old Seapearl 21. She was quite heavily oxidized when I got her and the hull almost seemed to absorb wax. After applying the cleaner included in the Polyglow kit, I applied 5 coats of PG. It looked great for the 2 or 3 years I owned the boat. I found it very easy to use and the results were good. I did make the mistake of using the cleaner to wash down the hull one spring- it removed every trace of PG! So I had to start over.
   That being said, my 23 is worthy of wax and the hull was in much better shape when she aquired me. She gets hand waxed before spring launch and after each fall haulout. Gotta keep my baby lookin' pretty!
bob23

[kenf1111]

well, we purchased and applied poly-glo (using the poly-prep first).. The boat looks great!! Thank you all..!

[fawsr]

pictures please ... I sanded and polished my sides but have simply washed and scrubbed the topsides. Am seriously thinking about using a sealer liker poli-glow on my topsides.

[kenf1111]

I will take some pics and post sometime this weekend... We want to put on another coat or two on first..
We tested a little area on topside with poly-glo and we like what we saw. we are considering applying it (after prep and cleaning as well.. Has anyone reading this topic applied Poly-glo to the topside too?