Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

The gelcoat was chalky

Here's a link to the background info showing what it looked like http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f55/oxidized-gelcoat-whats-next-paint-or-polish-47441.html#post528156

I decided to use Maine Sail's system http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=117266&#post706131

The first year, PoliGlow seems like a miracle. The second Spring it's a lot easier to add a few more coats than to polish and wax, but the coating starts to look uneven due to build-up and by the end of the second year I saw oxidation from beneath the coating. Stripping with PoliPrep is so difficult I'd make the (debatable) statement it doesn't work (you push the stuff around alot but it doesn't come off easy), so you need to buy the cans of stripper (makes it easy), then start over at least in the oxidized areas. Once it got to the point it was last Fall (final photo in the series in the first link above), I had to strip it all because the whole coating was breaking down and failed.

So in the end I think PoliGlow is OK but I decided to buy into Maine Sail's system. With the right tools and materials the job really isn't that bad and I'm loving the results (regrets for the crappy cell-phone cam photo in the post above). The boat is starting to look almost new again, and the finish quality of polished gelcoat is superior to the PoliGlow. I'm hoping Maine Sail's system will last a full season and I'll just need to polish and wax next season.

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