Black window stripes

[Indulgence]

Funny this should come up at this particular time.
I've spent this last week removing oxidization with Poli-prep.
Then very lightly sanded with wet 400 grit and cleaned and cleaned
and cleaned. The black window band and the black stripe are the worst.

It's taken about a third of a bottle of Poli-Glow just to restore
the smooth surfaces above the rub rail, took all six coats. I'm hoping
the rest of the kit will be enough to restore the main hull. Once the Poli-Glow
is applied I intend to cover the whole shebang with two coats of marine wax as well.

It's a big long time consuming job, but the finish has
become so deteriorated I believe it's worth my while.

FWIW Practical Sailor rated Poli-Glow the best fiberglass restorer.
Results so far are quite impressive, but you have to really clean the
existing 'glass down to bare bones. Should have started sooner.
Laurie

[Carl Noble]

Quebec 1,

How long did the shine of the Vertglas last? Did it last the entire season and did you have to strip it off this season?

[Québec 1]

Carl,
Lasted for 2 months practically like new with no maintenance what so ever,then slowly started to loose its shine . Needed to be redone by the end of the season but still looked OK. Will redo the entire process again this year. Took about 4 hours for the whole job. The preparation is the most time consuming part of the application. The actual application of the shine is really really easy and can be done while drinking beer.
Q1

[mikelinmon]

Hi all,

Here is how we do it at the factory'
Sand the black with 1000 grit used wet. Sand with 2000 grit used wet. Use buffer with fine bufing paste. If the sandpaper is not used the shine will dull in two or three months. You might even skip the buffing if 2000 grit is used wet, wet ,wet, I use soap and water.
Don't know if those chemicals are used by any other factories, just not by us.
One of our guys can do the entire black part of the boat in less than one day!
Mike Inmon

[kmclemore]

Mike, I'm sure that works great for a relatively new boat, but 1000 or worse yet 2000 is gonna clog pretty quickly with heavier oxidization, even with soapy water (which you are correct, is the best thing to use when wet-sanding). Folks might want to cut it down with 600 first, then move to 1000 and 2000.

As far as the buffing compound, I use 3M automotive machine-buffer rated products (liquids, like 3M "Perfect-It Rubbing Compound"), not the paste that comes in the tin - they clear the surface faster and don't load up on the pad or burn the surface as badly as the paste does.

[bastonjock]

I dont know what the chemical make up of 3M rubbing compund is in the states but if it is the same stuff that we get in the UK,then it has ammonia in it,if it does,the ammonia will yellow your white gell coat.I buffed up my hull a couple of days ago using a product called farecla,the hull came up great but the black stripes were a dissapointment.Ive made my mind up to respray the black bits,ill wait untill the winter comes but ill probably do it in a black metalic paint and automotive clearcoat.

[Québec 1]

Carl,
Lasted for 2 months practically like new with no maintenance what so ever,then slowly started to loose its shine . Needed to be redone by the end of the season but still looked OK. Will redo the entire process again this year. Took about 4 hours for the whole job. The preparation is the most time consuming part of the application. The actual application of the shine is really really easy and can be done while drinking beer.
Q1

Well....... tried the Poly Glo again this year but am not satisfied with the partial results so stopped the process. Will be using professional tools to do the job tomorrow or Monday at the garage. Will be sanding, then applying a paste then applying a wash wax product. Will give a resumé of my job with pictures when finished. The Poly Glow could still work but I need new applicators the old ones left streaks.

[Highlander]

Poly glow has to be applied on a cool dry day or early in the morning before it gets to warm it will then go on without streaking

J

[Snyds]

FYI

I wanted to post this as a resource for others...

previous owner did polyglo treatments to the whole boat. The lower part that receives less sunlight is still shinny but the upper is jacked (yellowed and pitted), looks HORRIBLE! I'm sure that I could re-apply poliglo and make it look good but I decided that I wanted to do it right. So I wet sanded the polyglo to for a whole day to remove it but my wife and I decided there had to be a better way... Denatured alcohol was the trick to remove it. Now a little time with a buffer and some wax and I hope it will look brand new!

Steve

PS you need a lot of alcohol (gallon or more) and I sanded with 600

[kmclemore]

Isn't there a special Polyglo remover?

[Québec 1]

Yes , It's bottle No.4 in the Polyglow kit!