Posts: 8844
| I have a garage full of automotive products - scratch removers, swirl removers, cleaner wax, quick detailer, paste wax, liquid wax, yada yada...
I think gel-coat finish on a boat is different from automotive clearcoat, but can these products be used on boat finishes? I know there are marine-specific products, but the cynic in me says they are the same-old-car-crap rebranded for a boat so they can charge twice as much for the same thing...
Any gel-coat experts out there?? |
Posts: 32935
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Yes they can.
Gel coat is colored resin, and goes into the mold first in a few very thin layers. Polyflake is colored plastic discs or chips suspended in clear sprayed onto clear with a base color applied over that to fill in the 'gaps'.
Lots of imperfections no matter how good the mold surface is. Waxes simply fill in those imperfections to give the perception of a perfect glossy surface. Carnuba wax is especially nice on fiberglass.
Don't wax the running bottom, not necessary. Keep it clean, and use a fiberglass sealer? Sure, once in awhile.
Resins used in gel coat and the coloring and polyflake are now pretty well UV inhibited. Not as much worry now as years ago about sun damage, but constant exposure will ruin a finish that isn't maintained. |
