Care of a blue hull

[Mr DK]

i am thinking of buying a boat with a blue hull, which I believe to be of blue gelcoat.
Obviously concerned about it fading and looking horrid, but obviously polishing regularly would help once cut back and shiny
Are some polishes better than others? I have heard that there are UV protective polishes. and ptfe polishes.
Also there is a lot of press in car motoring circles about nano technology polishes, would any of these help?
I have also seen there is a product called Owatrol Marine Polytrol Gelcoat Surface Restorer, which soaks into the top surface...… sounds different but anyone had any experience of this product?

Your views appreciated!

David

 

[rib]

Owatrol works,but you cant go back to polishing after wards,machine buff and plenty of regular waxing is proberly best,try the coloured wax

 

[pvb]

Welcome to the forums!

Do not use Owatrol, it's filthy stuff which leaves an ugly residue which is almost impossible to remove. I used it once, never again.

I used to polish my old Hallberg-Rassy (which had blue gelcoat hull stripes) with Meguiars products. I'd do two coats of their 45 Polish, followed by two coats of their 56 Wax. Both products are easy to apply by hand and buff off easily. I started using this regime after talking to the guys who were commissioning a brand new Oyster yacht. The blue gelcoat would look OK for maybe 6 months after this treatment.

In the end, I bit the bullet and had the blue stripes sprayed with Awlgrip.

 

[Praxinoscope]

My 1980 Sadler has an original gelcoat light blue hull which is still in excellent condition.
I usually ‘T-cut’ it every other year and use a standard automotive polish, once after lifting out in October and once before launching in April.

 

[doug748]

Nothing looks as good as a dark blue hull when new. Same thing with teak decks.
Give it a deal of thought.

 

[Kukri]

At least you haven’t got a red* one!

* or rather, blotchy pink...

 

[Tam Lin]

Tam Lin was chalky blue when I bought her and I thought I would be able to polish her to a nice finish. Well, polish, cutting compound and fine wet and dry didn’t work so I ended up painting her.

 

[No Regrets]

Easier to wrap it now, and don't bother with too much maintenance as it'll look like new when unwrapped.

You won't stop one from fading.

 

[Lightwave395]

i am thines about nano technology polishes, would any of these help?
I have also seen there is a product called Owatrol Marine Polytrol Gelcoat Surface Restorer, which soaks into the top surface...… sounds different but anyone had any experience of this product?

Your views appreciated!king of buying a boat with a blue hull, which I believe to be of blue gelcoat.
Obviously concerned about it fading and looking horrid, but obviously polishing regularly would help once cut back and shiny
Are some polishes better than others? I have heard that there are UV protective polishes. and ptfe polishes.
Also there is a lot of press in car motoring circles

David

IMHO (I'm biased) a gleaming dark blue hull is a thing of beauty. As the owner of a now 30 year old one I can attest that its a shame it doesn't stay that way for too long. I machine compounded and waxed mine every year for 10 years up until three years ago and she always looked stunning afterwards but she did seem to have thick gelcoat which more modern boats may not have. I tried every possible polish and eventually settled on Farecla, (but not bought through a chandlery) I finally gave her a 27th birthday present Awlgrip respray three years ago and now all it takes is a wash with car wax shampoo ( did come with a £14K bill though...! )

 

[salar]

My blue hull is now 13 years old and is still shiny. It has a power polish once a year, same as my previous white hulled boat. Not a problem! Buy it...

 

[johnalison]

I don't think that the precise preparations used matters very much. They all say that they give UV protection but in the end it comes down to the quality of the original, how well it is maintained, and luck. My HR blue stripe, now in its 20th year, started to fade and I struggled for a year or two with polishes but now am more aggressive with cutting compounds on the grounds that sooner or later it will be painted. At the moment it looks pretty good, in fact it is improving a bit each year, but needs a polish mid-season, and will probably do another ten years. A friend with a six years younger boat has been less lucky and his line is badly faded.

 

[Pinnacle]

i am thinking of buying a boat with a blue hull, which I believe to be of blue gelcoat.

I owned a blue hulled boat for 5 years. Unless you are willing to bite the bullet and have her professionally painted, my advice would be......don’t. I would never consider buying another blue hulled boat again.

 

[richardbrennan]

I have owned a dark blue boat for the last 19 years, the boat itself is two years older. For the past few years I have used Gtechniq Nano Polish and their C2 UV protection, this has done reasonably well, but I am now getting some UV shadowing that has proved difficult to deal with, so I have reverted to 3M Marine finishing compound and, on the recommendation of the guy that does the polishing in the yard, 3M Scotchguard liquid polish, which supposedly has a high level of UV protection. We have just finished polishing the hull and the results are good so far.

Blue hulls definitely require more work than white ones, but personally, I think the result is worth it. Get yourself a good light polisher such as a Rupes, they're expensive, but a good investment in the long term unless you have the arms of a gorilla.

 

[Gryphon2]

If you are planning on going somewhere hot you will regret a blue hull . Open a locker door and it is like opening the oven. Likewise teak decks and niether like the sun.

 

[Yngmar]

Blue gelcoat works exactly the same as any other colour gelcoat, and is treated the same. The only difference is, darker colours absorb (a lot) more UV, which means they break down sooner, so must be treated more often and/or more extensively.

Nothing you can do about that. Once the gelcoat has broken down, you can remove the "dead" chalky bits by polishing, which comes in various grades of abrasiveness and methods. The right one is the one that removes just enough dead gelcoat without removing too much healthy stuff below, because while a very coarse polish will provide results quickly, eventually you'll be through the gelcoat, and then it's time for the paint shed.

After it's polished, you can cover it with a coating that absorbs some of the UV, protecting the gelcoat until the coating itself has broken down. There's a ton of various waxes and coatings, you can even get combined polish and coating. The "nano" buzzword thrown around now is just the snake oil of our times.

How long treatments last depends mainly on how much UV the gelcoat is exposed to, which varies greatly between cruising areas. It's not just southern latitudes (sun angles and length of daylight), it also depends on how many days of clear sky an area gets on average. A boat in the water will get a lot more UV from reflections than a boat that spends half the year on hard standing, and gets abraded more by use (dried salt, airborne sand, floating debris, etc.).

So if you want it to keep blue looking good, expect to put in more work or money compared to maintaining a white gelcoated hull. Probably about twice. Or accept that it won't be shiny for the whole season. It'll sail exactly the same.