Wash and Polish

[Mfc1955]

New to boating and needing to give the GRP a good wash and polish. Firstly, any recommendations/endorsements for good products and best ways to do the job? Someone has recommended a good car shampoo?? followed by 'Mer.' ?
Secondly, do those electric polishers do as good a job as the adverts claim? Thirdly, am I allowed to ask for endorsement type advice on this forum ???
Thanks

 

[Guest]

Car shampoo is fine but you first need to polish the boat. I think the BEST product is Starbrites marine polish with Teflon. I have used it for a few years now with excellent results but you must follow the instructions and polish again after 30 days. The resulting finish will last the rest of the season. Any black streaks can be removed with a damp cloth impregnated with a little polish. This maintains a good finish for the whole season. I know many people who use this product and would not use anything else. Try it! and no I don't work for Starbrite.

 

[stamfordian]

Would this polish work on a painted boat... one pack enamal do you know or would it be too abrasive??

 

[Guest]

It should be OK. It is purely a polish and not a cleaner so from experience I am certain that it does not contain any abrasives. I would be quite happy to use it on my car but at £13 a bottle it is only used on my pride and joy.
By the way I do use an electric polisher and get good results but if you are doing this anywhere near water make sure you use a circuit breaker.

 

[coliholic]

Agree with the Starbrite polish, it's the best one I've used too. Wouldn't touch Mer, it's got silicone in and from everything I hear, silicone is not good for GRP especially if you're ever likely to need to paint the boat.

Can't agree about polishing it before washing though. Can't see any logic in that. The boat's got to be clean, before you polish it. I always use a proper boat wash detergent rather than fairy liquid or somesuch. Not expenisicve, sort of a fiver a gallon and lasts for ages. Tough stains and marks and ingrained dirt? Up to last year always used good old Jif or Cif as it's now called, but tried another proper marine product, so loads more money, called Wipe Out and that was very good. It's a powder and looks like Vim or Ajax but not gritty or abrasive,.results were much better than Jif\Cif but of course cost more. Oh and with Jif\Cif make sure you wash off well after and it is a bit abrasive.

Re power polishers. Yes best thing since Matts new boat. Even the silly litle £20 in Argos electric polishers save you a lot of hard work, especially if you're rubbing down with Farecla (a cutting compound to get even the worst muck off. Use grade G3 I think, nothing coarser), depends on how bad the boat is in the first place of course. Also had good results with a Black and Decker Orbital Sander but with a car type lambswool polishing bonnet. I wouldn't go to the expense of a real heavy duty proper industrial polishing machine. I bought one a few years ago, but it's too damn heavy to use, though someone here last year gave a tip on using them, especially if you're doing the hull sides. Tie a rope on it, feed the rope over the guardrail and then tie a counter weight (gallon plastic bottle of water or similar) to the rope so that the whole machine is nicely balanced. Good idea eh?

The way I'd tackle a really dirty boat would be first job a really good going over with a power washer. Then shampoo. Then Farecla if bad or Wipe Out if not too bad. Then 2 coats of Staybrite with Teflon. £13 a bottle though so that's not cheap either and on our 30 footer we use about a third of a bottle with each application.

A good weekend's work to do a proper wash and polish job on hull and topsides. Best way to do it is you do the power wash and shampoo, then go to the pub (but tell them you HAVE to go to the chandler's for something important) whilst wife and short persons "just finish off".

 

[Guest]

I am confusing myself Colin. Must wash the boat first. What I meant was that use only proprietry shampoos after washing and polishing and definitely not washing up liquid. Apparantly this destroys surface tension and the ducks fall through!

 

[Guest]

I was recommended "silky" it's a polish for caravans works really well gets right into grp works like a rubbing compound easy to apply and rub off with a cloth.It's also cheap £3.00 a pot . Available from camping and caravan dealers.

 

[ArthurWood]

Re: Orbital polishers

Am told they can leave swirls and all the boat polishing companies here use the large headed rotary ones. ie not orbital.

 

[coliholic]

Re: Orbital polishers

Could be

a) they're cheap Amerrican built boats built from sub-standard materials that causes swirling effect

Or

b) I got it wrong and meant rotary not orbital?

Take your pick.

And have a nice day.

 

[DepSol]

totally in agreement with yer there col.

 

[hlb]

I find that I need about ten bottles of stuff. Fairy, vim and a few bottles of very expencive special boaty cleany stuf, I can never remember the names, some are excelent, some are total wast of time. Powdery deck cleaner good stuff and a thing in a spray bottle gets rid of nearly everything. Seems to depend on the type of shit. Some work for one type others work on another. Just get a load of bottles, like the rest of us, and a power washer as well, it's all good fun and impresses the onlookers, Mind you Diesel is very effective on most stuff too!!

Haydn

 

[tripleace]

I agree starbrite telfon excellent:

I clean first with Formula 1 cleaner

www.cleverdic.co.uk

 

[Scubadoo]

100% agree, I use Wipe Out for greasy type stains works every time and Starbrite Teflon polish - used it for the last 6 years.

Tried others suchas those boaty wax polish and is rubbish.

RM.

 

[ArthurWood]

Re: a or b

prob not (a); too many 50-70ft Fairlines, Rivas, Sunseekers and Princesses here and cleaners never use orbitals!! Unfortunately none of them is mine!