THE definitive guide for polishing/buffing/waxing

It is a great tutorial. BUT it is for painted surfaces more so than for gelcoat in my opinion. We use a bottle of sno bowl gel to get the hull clean, if really oxidized use some 600 grit wet paper. We then apply two coats of Starbrite boat polish with teflon and call it good. Where we sail there is a lot of clay in the soil and the shirt you wear sailing will not be white when you are done. Neither will the boat, both will end up with a brown scum that does not wash out. We have found the Star Brite to be the best out there. Keeping the boat covered helps a lot also. Both my boats stay covered on the trailer all summer and in the barn all winter, still covered to keep any crap (literally it is a barn) off the boats. The covers keep the oxidation to a minimum. Been doing the same thing for about 15 years and until someone comes up with a definative better set up for a gel coat boat I am sticking with it. JMHO, YMMV. Cheers Ricardo.

Thanks for the find. Shall give it a try.

Thanks Headhunter It was excellent !! I think there was a string here on Beach-cats on boat finishing that suggested a final polish/wax that was used for mobile homes/trailers ect available at local hardware stores.. :: Home Depot ect. Forgot to save it in my favs. Came in gallons. Any one with clues?? Did a search with no luck.. They had a pix of a shortie camper that shined like Tahoe on a calm morning with a 6:30 sun!! Anybody?? .. Damian?? I Got 2 H-17 and my everyday N5.2s to do this spring as well as a few (going to pick up yet one more H-16 Sunday.. Craigs $300 with trailer.. California rocks) H 16s. It is my next retirement gig. Don't want my friend in Big Bear to get a jump on N Cal customers.. Chris.. We be in California with the surfers....Thx Cheers Hal

it was some commercial urathane floor wax/finish and you used it like you would polyglo. do the ole barkeep friend scrub up and apply 3 or 4 light coats. 15$ per gallon and that's enough to do the queen mary...2 times. seems like there was a "devil" in the title somewhere...

It was Red Max Pro #3. Can be found at Lowes. I went there the other day and the the guy at the Lowes by me said that his store was phasing out the Red Max products. He wasn't sure if it was a nation-wide thing but I'm going to pick up a jug at another Lowes before they run out. One gallon should last you forever.

Thread on Red Max Pro

I'm going to try it out on my Yellow Hobie 16 hulls over spring break. I'll get back to you guys on the results.

I am concerned about "build up".. done enough work in old homes where the kitchen floor looked yellow cuz there was 1 million coats of wax on it. loved the way the fiberglass looked but what do they look like today. Followed the link for a bit and even skiped a page or two but never found stories about how it has lasted .. And.. Not convinced that something goes on smoother when rubbed on (shiney-er) than somthing that is buffed.. I have a olde H 16 with hulls that are toast. Might try some and wait 2 years.. Cheers Hal

The same company makes a remover for the floor finisher. You could always strip it off every 5 years or so.

definitely worth a shot on a beater boat. if you have ever done the wet sand/rubbing compound/wax/buff job you know how much elbow grease is involved, it's a huge undertaking even on a 16' cat. down south i start with a 50/50 bleach bath with the pum-up sprayer(mildew lives on everything down here) the fire up the pressure washer to rinse. you have to do this no matter what treatment you do here or the mildew will live under and pop up through the wax or paint or anything else you put on it. this takes less than 1 hour.

the barkeep friend scrub is somewhat labor intensive but the stuff works pretty good(prolly 1.5 hours). let dry and put 4 thin coats on with a paint/stain applicator pad. you could put a coat on in about 10 minutes per hull with following coats after about 30 mins per hull(over a 3-4 hour period). so it's a wash/scrub day of 2 hours or so and a wax day of 3-4 hours total. worst case scenerio it sucks...then mix up the wax stripper and spray on with the pump-up sprayer, let dwell, strip wax off with a scotch-brite pad and your ready for anything(paint prep or wet sand/buff/wax process). the materials are cheap, 15$ 1 gallon wax(life time supply) 3$ barkeep friend, scotch brite pads 2$, stain applicator pad 5$(or staple an old sock on a block of wood). somebody do it and take some shots!

In my stable I have 2 H-17s.. The "Stars and Srtipes" blue one is quite faded and oxidized. The bright yellow one needs very little prep work .. And I have a old H-16 that I bought for parts.. Going to try spots on the 16 to check the weather abilitys.. Hope to get both 17s done soon as well. Probably going to sell the blue one and sail the yellow one. I want to be able to hang with both groups this summer. The Hobie folks and the Nacra-Prindle group.. I will shoot some pix of the work. A friend just gave me a DeWalt comercial buffer and pads. May try more than 2 methods.. Cheers Hal

Help.. Help.. Any idea where Max pro is available on line?? No one in town has it.. NO Lowes for 50 miles eather.. Thx Hal