Hull polishing and carpet headlining (Again)

[Jacket]

A couple of questions.

When I first brought my boat it was in a mess, so I concentrated on the important stuff like the electrics and rig. Now I've got time to look at the more cosmetic areas, and one which I know nothing about is hull polishing.

The hull hasn't been waxed in the 3 years I've had the boat, and probably wasn't for several years before that. The problem is that with my boat in Denmark, I'd have to pay the boatyard to do it for me, and they're expensive. What I wan't to know is will any harm come to the hull if its not polished, or is it purely cosmetic? Also, the hull gets those yellow brown stains around the waterline appearing very quickly each season. Will wax polishing slow this down?

Secondly, a question about carpet headlining. All the boat manufacturers that use this stuff claim that they use special marine, mildew and quick drying carpet. However, I had a poke around at the LBS, and couldn't find anyone selling the stuff. So is marine carpeting necessary (as opposed to the carpet used in cars or maybe offices, both of which must be fairly tough), and if so, who supplies it? Although I'm sure there's been postings on this in the past I've searched and can't find anything directly relevant.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[mikewilkes]

We are steel and cant comment about polishing as that is a thing the better half does to the car, cos I dont believe in cleaning them. With regard to the carpet thing we have a winter in the South of France last year with a lot of probs with condensation. We put some carpet, normal bog standard off the roll in the carpet shop with foam back, on the hull and this up to now seems pretty dam good. OK I admit we have moved further south into Spain but at times it can get a wee bit cold. There was some other stuff that was like a "wallpaper" which we stuck on the upper bulkheads at that seems OK too. This stuff we saw in Sete marina, not the sea one the other one, in the shower cubicles. Actually inside the cubicules on what seemed to be a stud/plasterboard wall. It is for sale in Leroy Merlin in France and it is like a thick wallpaper. Sold as anti condensation, insulation etc, and it works.
Sorry this is a bit long winded,
Mike

 

[snowleopard]

hawke house (fareham) make a carpet with self-adhesive back. it's very easy to apply and dries out easily when wet as it's 100% polypropylene. it comes in light grey or light beige.

 

[tr7v8]

Yes it is worth polishing glassfibre as it stays cleaner and also seals it, Argos sell a cheap polisher for around £ 25 which is a darn sight easeir than doing it by hand.
If you do a search on headlineing on PBO, I posted this a couple of month ago and hd some excellent responses, most importantly some suppliers which are much cheaper than the marine ones. People I spoke to at LBS were Hayter & Toomer, they were quite good but the prices are 'orrible.
Some car trim places were Wollies (have website) and M & M Developments (who don't) latter are in Lincoln some where.

Jim
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[Guest]

The best results I have had when polishing the hull were with 3m's bottle of rubbing compound/wax combined. This acheived good results on a boat we bought which had been left for 5 years and was really dirty and dull. Waxing will give good protection and will make cleaning the boat mid season much easier, but the hull needs to be really clean first so the rubbing compound mix worked well.

 

[GilesC]

I'm the proud owner of a similar polisher to the £25 ones being suggested - and after a couple of hours, went back to doing it by hand! It was heavy to hold in position, and did a worse job than a little elbow grease. But if you still want one, I could do you a deal - one owner, only 2 hours use.....
I've found the best combination on my boat is to use Mer to clean and give it a first go (the hard bit), then use Starbrite (which has teflon in it) to give a final coat. The rubbing compound someone else suggested may be a better start for you, as it hasn't been done for 5 years, but the Starbrite is well worth using.

 

[aztec]

read the post with interest, so much so that i bought one from screwfix.

conclusion: waste of time and effort compared with a mop. but on the plus side a mop is very expensive, and given it's credit did make the paint shiney on my car.

i would not recommend this tool as a labour saving device on a large job. i will persevere with a decent electric mop and compound finished off with imperial hand glaze from 3M... as i always have.

sorry to be negative but.. you get what you pays for.

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[BarryH]

Bosch DA variable speed sander. Get one of those spongey mops and a tub of G3. Works on my boat a treat, finish off woth a good quality wax containing teflon.

The brown stains come from..........er, well best left unsaid. Get rid of them with a dose of oxalic acid, or the stuff of the shelf like Starbright Hull cleaner, Result , sparlky, spangly boat