Keeping Gel-Coat shiny and flexible. My Snake-oil treatment
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 11:36 am
Spa Day....How do you pamper your boat?
I am often asked how to I get my boats to shine like they do even when they are 25-40 years old.
Well every year I wheel the gelcoat out with a wool wheel on a variable speed, direct drive arbor polisher (not a DA polisher) using a fine compound.
A lot of people do this sure, but here is where I do something that is a little unorthodox. After the polishing, I wipe the entire boat down with gear lube...Yes, gear lube. Why? for a couple reasons. They might all be unscientific, but here is why I believe it is a good thing...
#1 I want to prevent as much cracking and crazing as possible. The gelcoat on your boat is a petroleum based product and when those oils dry out of the gelcoat, you get a dull surface and the gelcoat loses it's elasticity. The less flexible the gelcoat, the more cracking can happen. So by wiping the heavy oil onto the surface, I am letting the oils seep back into gelcoat and thus improving the elasticity.
#2 The shine, when you wax your boat, you are essentially adding oils back on to the surface to protect and add a shine to the gelcoat. But all waxes have additives to dry out so you can buff them off the surface. What's left behind is a light film of oils that quickly dries out. If it's the oils that add shine to the surface, why not just skip the chalking agents in waxes and add oil right to the surface?
My process is to use a clean terry cloth rag and a 90 weight gear lube that is brown in color. I wipe this all over the smooth gelcoat surfaces of the boat right after I wheel it out. I coat all of the surface and let it sit on there for 2-4 hours. I also clean the rub rail with lacquer thinner or acetone prior to wiping the hull, then coat the rub rail while I also wipe the gelcoat. After that I go back and buff the surface with a microfiber cloth to a shine. Once I am done with that, I am good to go and polish with a Starbrite PTFE polish (not wax) by hand once a month for the summer.
I have been doing this with all of my Whalers and the Grady as well (these pics are with my Grady). This process keeps the boat looking amazing through out the summer and I believe helps to keep the gel-coat hydrated and flexible. Oh, and the rubrail looks great too.
Hey, you might think I am crazy, this is nonsense or this is a "Snake Oil" treatment...but hey, I am going to keep doing because I feel it works for me...
My 1988 Grady White, the gelcoat was chalky when I got it 3 years ago. This is it now->
I am often asked how to I get my boats to shine like they do even when they are 25-40 years old.
Well every year I wheel the gelcoat out with a wool wheel on a variable speed, direct drive arbor polisher (not a DA polisher) using a fine compound.
A lot of people do this sure, but here is where I do something that is a little unorthodox. After the polishing, I wipe the entire boat down with gear lube...Yes, gear lube. Why? for a couple reasons. They might all be unscientific, but here is why I believe it is a good thing...
#1 I want to prevent as much cracking and crazing as possible. The gelcoat on your boat is a petroleum based product and when those oils dry out of the gelcoat, you get a dull surface and the gelcoat loses it's elasticity. The less flexible the gelcoat, the more cracking can happen. So by wiping the heavy oil onto the surface, I am letting the oils seep back into gelcoat and thus improving the elasticity.
#2 The shine, when you wax your boat, you are essentially adding oils back on to the surface to protect and add a shine to the gelcoat. But all waxes have additives to dry out so you can buff them off the surface. What's left behind is a light film of oils that quickly dries out. If it's the oils that add shine to the surface, why not just skip the chalking agents in waxes and add oil right to the surface?
My process is to use a clean terry cloth rag and a 90 weight gear lube that is brown in color. I wipe this all over the smooth gelcoat surfaces of the boat right after I wheel it out. I coat all of the surface and let it sit on there for 2-4 hours. I also clean the rub rail with lacquer thinner or acetone prior to wiping the hull, then coat the rub rail while I also wipe the gelcoat. After that I go back and buff the surface with a microfiber cloth to a shine. Once I am done with that, I am good to go and polish with a Starbrite PTFE polish (not wax) by hand once a month for the summer.
I have been doing this with all of my Whalers and the Grady as well (these pics are with my Grady). This process keeps the boat looking amazing through out the summer and I believe helps to keep the gel-coat hydrated and flexible. Oh, and the rubrail looks great too.
Hey, you might think I am crazy, this is nonsense or this is a "Snake Oil" treatment...but hey, I am going to keep doing because I feel it works for me...
My 1988 Grady White, the gelcoat was chalky when I got it 3 years ago. This is it now->