Boat polishing ...necessary?

[Marine Reflections]

With boats coming out of the water, lots of articles and questions about polishing hulls.

Is it really necessary to maintain the boat or is it just an aesthetic thing?

'Beauty is only skin deep' they say, what more of a body is seen?
It is the same with boats, the gel coat is the skin that is seen.

I've never heard anyone say "I prefer my gel coat dull".
I have heard people say that they enjoy sailing or boating more and don't want to worry about it, that is a very fair point, but when it comes to selling they may be knocked down considerably by condition, cleaning maintenance has been a pain and now they have a bill for correction to get the most out of a sale. A stitch in time really does save nine.

As well as preserving the gloss, highly polished gel coat is easy to clean, it is also the main protection, far more important than any magic snake oil, as a highly polished surface 'reflects' light (inc UV) off the surface.

A wax or sealant is added (only if it is in good condition) as it sheds water from the gel coat and acts as a pawn, absorbing the effects of weathering instead of the gel coat itself.

When new the smooth, shiny gel coat sheds water and is easy to keep clean. Once etched by weathering, or scratched by poor cleaning, it marks easily, absorbs stains and is difficult to keep clean and bright, once etched the aging speeds up.

Protection is needed most in winter, when owners are snug at home, the boat is subjected to rain, frost and snow, it is not just a thing to consider for summer UV.

 

[Mistroma]

I've always given my boat a quick wash and applied a "polish" soon after lift out every year. I choose a product that dries to a white powdery suface and just leave it like that over the winter. The coating washes off very easily in spring and I then apply a hard polish such as the one made by 3M.

My last boat was about 30 years old when I sold her and people said she looked better than most 2-3 year old boats. It certainly protected the hull saved me a lot of problems. I remember many people complaining about rust and cement ingrained on hulls by spring in one year. It was caused by winter work on nearby Forth road and rail bridges. We found that the dirty coating just washed off our boat with little effort.

So I'd say that it is worth putting some sort of coating on the GRP before winter storage.

I've always wondered if there's a product made to protect GRP over the winter (better and cheaper than polish). Perhaps someone here has found some caravan/boat product. I have sometimes had trouble finding a suitable product over the years. I just get used to one polish and it vanishes from the market and I need to find another one. Something that just dries to a white powdery film that washes off easily in spring but stays in place during the winter.

 

[ricky_s]

Also, I know that I will have to sell it one day and a clean boat will sell more readily except for someone looking for a "project".

You are right, I looked at a boat to buy recently and the gelcoat looked very chalky. Made me wonder what else had been neglected.

 

[prv]

I've never heard anyone say "I prefer my gel coat dull".

My hand is up!

OK, not quite, as KS has been painted, but I've always said I prefer her matt hand-brushed finish to the shiny versions I've seen. The surveyor described the paint finish as "poor", but it suits the type of boat very well. He was assuming shiny == good, which is not necessarily true on a simulated-clinker gaff-rigger with wooden spars and a pretension to working-boat ancestry.

In the process of buying a modern-style boat instead, though, which will have a very shiny new Awlgrip (actually, Awlcraft acrylic) finish. Going to have to learn about keeping boats shiny now! Not to mention becoming a bit precious about occasional brushes with pontoons etc, which I never worried all that much about before

Pete

 

[fastjedi]

I was told years ago that polishing damages the paintwork on a car so I've never polished (or in fact washed) my car since. It doesn't seem to look any the worse for it.

Years ago, a friend of mine and his father bought identical Metro's in solid black. One was washed every week & polished at least twice a year. The other was higher milage and never washed or polished. Needless to say the latter was in noticabley better condition when washed and polished for resale 3 years on

 

[Marine Reflections]

Years ago, a friend of mine and his father bought identical Metro's in solid black. One was washed every week & polished at least twice a year. The other was higher milage and never washed or polished. Needless to say the latter was in noticabley better condition when washed and polished for resale 3 years on

It all depends on how it was washed and polished.

I have a few 'pride & joys' to wash, paint on cars is much softer these days, a decent wash alone can take between 2-3 hours on a normal sized car, be made up of several stages to ensure it is done in a safe manner.
If you walk up to it with a bucket and sponge and get stuck in, then don't expect anything other than damage at a microscopic level.