Sans Bateau
Well-Known Member
Last year we had Galadriel out of the water over a weekend to apply Poliglow. This is an account of the reasons why we decided to use Poliglow, the application and the result a year on.
The GRP on some parts of the deck, cockpit and transom on our boat are a little poor. I felt that although these areas do polish up, they would benefit from a coating as described in the Poliglow marketing and I even now I don’t doubt the value of the UV protection offered by this product. Being impressed by the thought of maintaining shinny GRP without annual polishing, we decided to use the application on the topsides as well, the thought of additional UV protection here was also appealing.
As far as I can remember the kit contains two bottles, one a cleaner the other the Poliglow product itself, the box also contains one pair of disposable gloves, two grades of scrubbing (scotchbrite type) pads and an applicator for the Poliglow. (see their web site for full details). The cleaner has to be diluted then spayed on with a domestic detergent type atomiser. This is sprayed on whilst you scrub with the abrasive pad. The cleaning process was very good, I remain impressed, with a little work chalked gel coat and dirt came off together with old polish, leaving a slightly matt finish. In itself the cleaner is a product I would buy again.
The application of the Poliglow takes several coats to build up a suitable finish. The principal is you apply the product with a device that has a sponge covered with artificial chamois, this provides a smooth surface to surface for the application. The first couple of coats showed some areas still matt, others starting to show a gloss, this gradually improved as the coats were applied, but even after 5 coats, some areas were glossier than others. I felt I could have got a better finish with paint and a sponge roller, laying off with a quality brush, something that I have done on a previous boat with excellent results (International Toplac). One major problem I found during the application though, you really do need a totally dust free environment, the product dries too quickly on the sponge but stays wet long enough on the hull to attract dust and insects. The application on the hull (35 ft boat) took a long time. Also I would recommend the use of some kind of gantry rather than a step ladder, this would greatly improve application speed. The finished job was not bad, but in the past I have got a better finish with one of the quality boat polishes and a ‘Halfords’ car polisher.
Transom, deck and cockpit. Mmmm, was Poliglow ever designed to be used in these areas? Just look at you own boat, these areas are covered in bits of equipment, a mix of GRP/wood/non slip/deck fittings. The application of Poliglow works best where you can get a continuous straight run (topsides), where you have to keep stopping or trying to go around bits the application becomes very difficult (IMO), runs are frequent and almost unavoidable and think about it, you have to go over the area 5 times! This was even less successful than the hull topsides.
Even when the job was newly completed I was a less than excited with what I saw. The boat was going to be relaunced two days later, so I did not get to see it until the following weekend. Sat on her marina berth the boat did look good, reflecting in the water, I felt pleased, it had been darned hard work, but at least it would be Ok for a few years (so I understood). However jubilation once again turned to disappointment when on closer inspection I could see that the hull topsides on the port side, there were matt patches, the gloss had gone! This is the side the marina work boat sits to put her back on her berth, the fenders had rubbed the Poliglow off! I resigned myself to the fact that even two days was not enough for the product to dry, so I would have to touch up those areas latter.
A couple of weeks later on the August Bank Holiday we went to St Vaast (great weekend!). On returning to the UK, I noticed that there was a strip about 2 metres long and about 5cm wide on the Starboard side that appeared matt. Giving thought to how that could be, I remembered that when we came onto the pontoon in SV, a couple of fenders had ridden up as we came alongside, was it that, had our light contact with the pontoon taken off the Poliglow? It would seem it had. It was then that I came to the conclusion that if the hull contacted anything (fenders, mooring buoy?) the Poliglow was likely to rub off, hardly suitable for the job I thought.
Back in April, the muck that tends to accumulate on the deck and across the cockpit over the winter was due to be cleaned off. I have always found the best cleaner for this purpose is ‘Pink Stuff’, Skippers Mate, (try it you’ll be surprised!), I apply it from the tub with the abrasive side of a domestic washing up sponge, the dirt comes off and a blast with a pressure washers finishes the job off. This year, remember, I am cleaning off the dirt that has settled on last years Poliglow, an easier task you might think, wrong! Even now some areas are grey with dirt that seems to have welded itself to the Poliglow, something I have never seen before.
No, sorry, for the cost involved (we needed two kits for our 35ft boat), the effort involved in the application and the results we achieved, its not good enough. In a perfect environment the application may be easier, if the boat was badly chalked, it may be worth it or if you are prepared to accept only a reasonable result. In Aug this year we will remove the Poliglow and return to conventional polish. At least as one works around the deck and cockpit polishing, you know you only have one pass to make.
The GRP on some parts of the deck, cockpit and transom on our boat are a little poor. I felt that although these areas do polish up, they would benefit from a coating as described in the Poliglow marketing and I even now I don’t doubt the value of the UV protection offered by this product. Being impressed by the thought of maintaining shinny GRP without annual polishing, we decided to use the application on the topsides as well, the thought of additional UV protection here was also appealing.
As far as I can remember the kit contains two bottles, one a cleaner the other the Poliglow product itself, the box also contains one pair of disposable gloves, two grades of scrubbing (scotchbrite type) pads and an applicator for the Poliglow. (see their web site for full details). The cleaner has to be diluted then spayed on with a domestic detergent type atomiser. This is sprayed on whilst you scrub with the abrasive pad. The cleaning process was very good, I remain impressed, with a little work chalked gel coat and dirt came off together with old polish, leaving a slightly matt finish. In itself the cleaner is a product I would buy again.
The application of the Poliglow takes several coats to build up a suitable finish. The principal is you apply the product with a device that has a sponge covered with artificial chamois, this provides a smooth surface to surface for the application. The first couple of coats showed some areas still matt, others starting to show a gloss, this gradually improved as the coats were applied, but even after 5 coats, some areas were glossier than others. I felt I could have got a better finish with paint and a sponge roller, laying off with a quality brush, something that I have done on a previous boat with excellent results (International Toplac). One major problem I found during the application though, you really do need a totally dust free environment, the product dries too quickly on the sponge but stays wet long enough on the hull to attract dust and insects. The application on the hull (35 ft boat) took a long time. Also I would recommend the use of some kind of gantry rather than a step ladder, this would greatly improve application speed. The finished job was not bad, but in the past I have got a better finish with one of the quality boat polishes and a ‘Halfords’ car polisher.
Transom, deck and cockpit. Mmmm, was Poliglow ever designed to be used in these areas? Just look at you own boat, these areas are covered in bits of equipment, a mix of GRP/wood/non slip/deck fittings. The application of Poliglow works best where you can get a continuous straight run (topsides), where you have to keep stopping or trying to go around bits the application becomes very difficult (IMO), runs are frequent and almost unavoidable and think about it, you have to go over the area 5 times! This was even less successful than the hull topsides.
Even when the job was newly completed I was a less than excited with what I saw. The boat was going to be relaunced two days later, so I did not get to see it until the following weekend. Sat on her marina berth the boat did look good, reflecting in the water, I felt pleased, it had been darned hard work, but at least it would be Ok for a few years (so I understood). However jubilation once again turned to disappointment when on closer inspection I could see that the hull topsides on the port side, there were matt patches, the gloss had gone! This is the side the marina work boat sits to put her back on her berth, the fenders had rubbed the Poliglow off! I resigned myself to the fact that even two days was not enough for the product to dry, so I would have to touch up those areas latter.
A couple of weeks later on the August Bank Holiday we went to St Vaast (great weekend!). On returning to the UK, I noticed that there was a strip about 2 metres long and about 5cm wide on the Starboard side that appeared matt. Giving thought to how that could be, I remembered that when we came onto the pontoon in SV, a couple of fenders had ridden up as we came alongside, was it that, had our light contact with the pontoon taken off the Poliglow? It would seem it had. It was then that I came to the conclusion that if the hull contacted anything (fenders, mooring buoy?) the Poliglow was likely to rub off, hardly suitable for the job I thought.
Back in April, the muck that tends to accumulate on the deck and across the cockpit over the winter was due to be cleaned off. I have always found the best cleaner for this purpose is ‘Pink Stuff’, Skippers Mate, (try it you’ll be surprised!), I apply it from the tub with the abrasive side of a domestic washing up sponge, the dirt comes off and a blast with a pressure washers finishes the job off. This year, remember, I am cleaning off the dirt that has settled on last years Poliglow, an easier task you might think, wrong! Even now some areas are grey with dirt that seems to have welded itself to the Poliglow, something I have never seen before.
No, sorry, for the cost involved (we needed two kits for our 35ft boat), the effort involved in the application and the results we achieved, its not good enough. In a perfect environment the application may be easier, if the boat was badly chalked, it may be worth it or if you are prepared to accept only a reasonable result. In Aug this year we will remove the Poliglow and return to conventional polish. At least as one works around the deck and cockpit polishing, you know you only have one pass to make.
