Washing topsides...

MagicalArmchair

MagicalArmchair

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Kings Hill, Chatham Marina
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Before polishing and waxing your topsides, do you strip the old wax off by 'washing' the boat first with something?

Or just Polish and Wax on top of what's there? The process I have in mind.
  1. Wash the boat with warm water and washing up liquid (strip off wax and generally clean)
  2. If there are any rust stains or staining around the waterline, use Oxalic Acid to remove those (Y10 I have floating around somewhere)
  3. Compound with light cutting compound by rotary polisher to get the boat nice and shiny.
  4. 1 x Polish with MeGuiars by hand
  5. 2 x Wax with MeGuiars by hand
Over engineered?
 
MagicalArmchair said:
Before polishing and waxing your topsides, do you strip the old wax off by 'washing' the boat first with something?

Or just Polish and Wax on top of what's there? The process I have in mind.
  1. Wash the boat with warm water and washing up liquid (strip off wax and generally clean)
  2. If there are any rust stains or staining around the waterline, use Oxalic Acid to remove those (Y10 I have floating around somewhere)
  3. Compound with light cutting compound by rotary polisher to get the boat nice and shiny.
  4. 1 x Polish with MeGuiars by hand
  5. 2 x Wax with MeGuiars by hand
Over engineered?
Click to expand...

That's basically what I do, with three exceptions.

Firstly, I wash with sudsy water and a sponge, with a squirt of cheap own-brand "cream cleaner" (aka Jif/Cif). This seems to be a fairly gentle way of getting rid of any stubborn marks.

Secondly, I don't use any cutting compound or mechanical devices.

Thirdly, I apply two coats of Meguiars polish by hand, followed by two coats of Meguiars wax by hand.

I do this every 2 years.
 
It depends.

If it is in good condition and no chalking, definitely a good wash etc. Why take off whatever remains of all that lovely polish?

If it does reuire a compounding proceed according to how bad it is with either a light, medium or hard compound. I am a fan of the compounds with polish as mine takes so long to do. Personally I do the lightest compound once a year (usually in the Spring) and another polish at some point during the year. Using a good quality shampoo does make a difference as well as reasonably regular washes.

I also made the mistake of using a brush when washing. I have found this no good. A little like a car, it is well worth going over the topsides with a sponge and shampoo to effectively remove the deposits between washes.
 
I wipe them over with netting rag and some PVC Solvent Cleaner (Toolstation). It gets off any loose dirt, marks from fenders etc., and also removes the chalky film.
 
Thank you all.


ip485 said:
It depends.

If it is in good condition and no chalking, definitely a good wash etc. Why take off whatever remains of all that lovely polish?

If it does reuire a compounding proceed according to how bad it is with either a light, medium or hard compound. I am a fan of the compounds with polish as mine takes so long to do. Personally I do the lightest compound once a year (usually in the Spring) and another polish at some point during the year. Using a good quality shampoo does make a difference as well as reasonably regular washes.

I also made the mistake of using a brush when washing. I have found this no good. A little like a car, it is well worth going over the topsides with a sponge and shampoo to effectively remove the deposits between washes.
Click to expand...

She actually looks pretty good, I think I’ll go with a wash with a “wash and wax” kind of product, polish x2 and then wax x2, drop the machining and stripping.

https://imgur.com/a/gkC8VVw
 
She looks lovely and this would be exactly my assessment. There is no sign or need to compound your hull and it will come up beautiful.
 
I apply gelcoat cleaner, International I think, with my wife’s floor squeegee mop on a pole. I can reach the whole hull with its 1.5m draft and moderate topsides. I wash this off with a hose and a synthetic lambs wool pad on a long pole. After that I work at the HR blue line which needs cutting compounding after 20yrs, and then the white just needs wax which I follow with wax sealant. The waxing is little work compared to what I have to do to the blue line, so I do it each year.
 
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