Poly Glow Question

[rickalan35]

I know Poly Glow has been mentioned here before but please update me - is this product something I should use on my hull?

Thanks,

Rick

[BarryL]

Regarding Poli Glow-

I read a lot about Poli Glow and there is a lot of people who love it and just as many who hat it.

I can tell you what I have learned. Along with my 10 meter I have an older 21 Sear Ray bow rider for my kids to tool around in.

The boat is in amazing shape but like all late 80"s early 90"s Sea Rays the color has faded beyond buff/wax etc... and I stumbled onto a site relating to fiberglass campers. The general consensus on that forum was that Red Max #3 floor wax from Lowes was essentially the same thing as Poli Glow at 1/10th the price ($15.00 a gallon versus $50-60 a quart)

As suggested by the camper crowd I used Bar Keepers friend to scrub the entire boat down and remove any stains and a few minor scratches. Applied 4-6 coats of the Red Max and the Sea Ray looks like new. It doesn't have the ultra deep luster that you get from a good compound, polish and then good wax but this boat was beyond that route.

A few things to be aware of-

If you can compound, polish and wax and get a good shine I would go that route. If not and your gel is really gone then the Red Max is the way to go. Put it on with a micro fiber cloth in thin coats and make sure you wipe away any bubbles and the sub surface is clean before you apply any of the Red Max. When cleaning I missed a spot that didn't show up till after I had applied 3-4 coats of the red max. I took a scotch brite pad and removed the red max, cleaned the underlying area and then touched up the red max. Looks great.

Again, if your gel is beyond the normal upkeep steps this is a good was to go, relatively simple and it looks pretty good. I have heard from others that it is a pain in the @ss to remove and required the use of floor stripper and some elbow grease. Time will tell.

I for one am pleased with the results so far.

Good luck.

Barry

[Big D]

I will add this; if you tried polishing and are sure you've done it right with the proper grits but she won't come back up or goes dull again in a few days, I wouldn't put any coatings on her unless you wet sand and polish a section like the transom first. A lot of elbow grease but if she comes back, IMO, that's the way to go. If she doesn't come back, then coat away. You'd be surprised what may lie beneath that dull surface if it's done right.

[RWS]

looks GREAT for a season

yes, ONE season,

Then it gets yellow

then it peels

been there, done that, not ever going back.

RWS

[DOUBLE R]

+1 to rws. I got three seasons but mine was stored under cover for ten months a year. By then it was yellowed and peeling and quite ugly. Looked good for quite a while tho.

[Lawman]

I did use Poly-Glow on my 1990 Stingray. It was dark blue with plenty of oxidation, the "Poly-Ox" that i got with it is like ajax and scrubs most of the oxidation off, then apply the Poly-Glow. It looked good for a season but the next season the oxidation started to come back through. I could have repeated the whole process but I sold the boat. I think wet sanding is the best, it takes everything off then throw on some 3M Cleaner & Wax and buff to shine.

[todd brinkerhoff]

Try a high quality cutting compound with a polisher. After your done, wash the boat, to get the grit off. Then use a high quality wax. With a medium cut compound, you would be suprised how much shine you will find underneath all those layers of crap.

[BobCT]

I removed all of the hull stripes last year. Started with citrus stripper and scotch brite pads. Fast forward to the other side and had progressed to my palm sander w/220 just sanding them off.

The gelcoat is a lot thicker than I thought it would be. I started out as though I was on the last layer of clearcoat on a car but that wasn't the case. Unless the area was been compounded a LOT, I wouldn't hesitate to wetsand and then buff.


Bob

[DOUBLE R]

If anyone wants my poliglowpm me and i will send it to you. I have three quarters of the bottle left. Just cover postage. Roy

[rooferdave]

for what it is worth, I went to the local boat supply store, and they were telling me that polyglow is just a clear coat, they were also saying that minimum 7 coats or else you are going have trouble. Also once you do it you must re apply once a year or it will go bad, if you wait too long to re apply you have to strip it completely using ammonia and it is a nasty job. So I guess if you are going to use polyglow once you are pretty much married to it