Re WaxingHull ?

[oldtimer]

Hey guys, any thoughts on waxing a hull ? Can anyone recommend a good wax. How about Starbrite, or Meguiars waxes , or ? Hard to pick one out with so many gosh darn waxes on the market, and they all make claim to being the best.

Also, while I am on here, who has squeaky floors in their boat ? My Tri cabin has plywood floors over beams, and its enough to drive a person crazy at night. I have screwed down a lot of areas where it squeaks with little success. This past weekend a fellow boater suggested I try baby powder in all the seams. Don't know if hes pulling my leg or not, but about now I will try anything.

Re my Fuel Tank Senders, I am going to try and install them around mid Aug, and will post how things went. I have hatches cut now under the galley sink and over the aft stairwell area, approx 16" square giving me good access to the senders. Cant seem to get the hang of attaching and sending a picture from photo bucket. I have loads of pictures on my Picassa photo albums, but cant seem to be able to put one in my post. Oh well, take care guys and enjoy your summer.

Oldtimer

[canuckkb]

Oldtimer,
I purchased a '76 Trojan over the winter, which did not look like it had been waxed in years. I hate waxing. Anyways, I used 3M Restorer and Wax. It did a very good job. You can buy it at CT or most marinas. To save time I used two buffers. One to apply and one to remove. I choose this because I looked over the shoulder of a guy that waxes boats for a living, and that is what he was using. I am assuming that he has experimented with them all.
Hope that helps.

[jimbo36]

Are you waxing or polishing than wax? Your boat is the same year as my tri cabin so I suspect you have some oxidation on your gel coat. If so, wax will not work well. You will need to cut through the haze in the gel coat with some grit. Now you are into polish. The type of polish will depend on the "cutting" strength needed for the condition of your gel coat. The more oxidation, the more aggressive your polish needs to be. Wax is used on new gel coat or buffed gel coat that has been properly polished. You may need to get even more aggressive with rubbing compound or even wet sanding. Buffing and waxing is not easy and is done with proper equipment like power buffers and requires technique. Sorry to get too detailed but I have seen many boaters become frustrated with the job they have done that is less than they had hoped for because they were not aware of the process. 3M has some great products that have simplified the process with polish/wax combinations Like "Polish and Wax" and "Cleaner and Wax"(less aggressive) that work well on light oxidation, followed by a final wax. Think of the wax as the sacrificial part of the process. If you keep the wax up you may not have to polish as frequently. Each time you polish you remove a layer of gel coat. Also, what are you using to wash your boat? Many cleaners remove wax. Good luck. Nothing looks better than a great shine on an older boat.

[jimbo36]

Oldtimer,
I purchased a '76 Trojan over the winter, which did not look like it had been waxed in years. I hate waxing. Anyways, I used 3M Restorer and Wax. It did a very good job. You can buy it at CT or most marinas. To save time I used two buffers. One to apply and one to remove. I choose this because I looked over the shoulder of a guy that waxes boats for a living, and that is what he was using. I am assuming that he has experimented with them all.
Hope that helps.

"Restorer & Wax" is what I was thinking when I said "Polish & Wax" from 3M, Thanks.

[prowlersfish]

3M Marine Restorer & Wax or their cleaner & wax . good stuff

[oldtimer]

Hi Guys,
I neglected to say when I posted my query that when I bought my boat last fall, it had been polished and waxed by some company for the previous owner. Who or how I dont know. The hull and cabin have a nice semi gloss shine on them and I want to try and keep it up. So I just need to wax, no oxidization that I can see anywhere. I have a 10" orbital 12v buffer that I plan to use for the final polish. Would like to get the opinion of other boaters to hear what is a good wax to use. Thanks.

Oldtimer

[todd brinkerhoff]

Collinite hard wax. Pain in the ass to work with, but nothing on the market will last longer. You'll need to use a buffing wheel, and canNOT let it dry on your hull. I have guys around me use all kinds of waxes, and nothing compares.

[captainmaniac]

I have only (mostly) ever used Meguiar's products. Their #45 High Gloss Polish and Flagship Premium Marine Wax have been my regular potions for the past 20+ years. My current boat is a '79 (originally kept in Lake Ontario (Niagara region), then up to Lake Simcoe (Lefroy), than back to Lake Ontario (Hamilton)). I have had people with late '80's boats saying their boat would look as good as mine if it wasn't so much older than mine... (they get really pissed off when they find out mine is about 10 years older).

The gel on our late 70's Trojans is so awesome and resilient - just got to get rid of the crap that has stuck to the gel for it to really shine. If the regular polish is not enough to make the gel glow, try Meguiar's Heavy Duty Colour Restorer (but don't use it too many times... my prior boat was a 1987 26' Four Winns Liberator - I went through the gel on the deck to raw fibreglass (after about 8 seasons of using it) - but it kept the dark blue hull sides looking darn good).

I can share some awesome reflection pics after using the Meguiar's solutions, but am sure others have lots of them.

I found I couldn't control and get consistent results using a power buffer (too many swirls all over the place depending on how much polish was on the buffer or how wet it was), so my polish and wax are done entirely by hand. 2 hrs per side for polish, and 1-2 hrs per side for wax depending on heat and humidity. Plus a stupid amount of time for the transom (since it's a bugger to get to easily).

[Big D]

I find the 3M Marine Ultra Performance paste wax works great. I also wax by hand only. Do small sections at a time. Three rags plus the applicator. Apply wax, take off as much as you can with first rag, wipe off more with second rag, and finish with third rag. The third rag should have very little wax residue on it if any when done a section. Line the rags up and use them in the same order all the time. Depending on the size of the boat, replace the rags with fresh ones when they start getting too much wax on them. Toss the first one out, then bring the other two to the beginning of the line and use the fresh rag for the finish. Tedious work, I prefer turning a wrench!

[Diverted Income]

Collinite hard wax. Pain in the ass to work with, but nothing on the market will last longer. You'll need to use a buffing wheel, and canNOT let it dry on your hull. I have guys around me use all kinds of waxes, and nothing compares.

Yes to Collinite, No. 476 I think.... Great stuff.

[lawyerdave71]

I have had people with late '80's boats saying their boat would look as good as mine if it wasn't so much older than mine... (they get really pissed off when they find out mine is about 10 years older). quote]


LET ME GUESS . . . SeaRay Owners?????

[oldtimer]

Hi Guys, thanks for all your great replies. Just thought I would say that I am away tomorrow morn and wont be back until Mon, Aug 4th. I will look forward to logging back in on the site then. Thanks

Oldtimer

[jimbo36]

One important note when waxing (not polishing). When using a buffing wheel stay at 500 RPM (or by hand or an orbital buffer) otherwise the heat you build up at higher RPM is taking the wax off as you are trying to apply it. On the other hand, polishing takes 1500 RPM on the wheel. Pros have a water spray bottle handy when polishing.

[fishernut]

We've used polish with PTEF (teflon) for the last 25 years (bought it new) on our F-25 and would use nothing else, nothing goes on easier, faster or lasts as long. People who know how old the boat is always comment on how good it looks, it does too. The only place I find it now is at West Marine.

[oldtimer]

Hi Guys, I was away on a weeks vacation and am now back in the real world again. Thanks for your replies on this topic. Just thought I would throw this into the mix. Re the baby powder fix. We did buy a can of it and tried it on all the plywood seams that were noisy. It did work to a degree & cured about 70% of our squeaky floors. Heard from a lot of other boaters while away and the consensus seems to be that any type of a talcum powder will work in wood seams that are too tight and rub each other when flexing. A few guys said they had used a vegetable based spray similar to WD-40 that worked very well. Unfortunately no one can remember the name, and will get back to me when they find out. Hoping to get my fuel tank senders sometime this coming week. I ordered the Moeller ones thru West Marine Canada. Let you know in a few weeks or sooner how difficult it was for me. Take care.

Oldtimer