When To Awlgrip??

[Warren Kaplan]

I just took the shrinkwrap off Sine Qua Non yesterday and I somehow got some pretty bad stains on the topsides. I managed to do a good job today cleaning up the stains and polishing the topsides with 3M Marine Fiberglass Restorer and Wax.

This hull is 26 years old. Even though the hull cleaned up pretty well this time I'll never see my face reflected in it ever again. How many years of compounding/waxing can a hull take before you consider another path? Do you consider something like awlgrip when the hull stays dull? Or when the stains don't come out anymore? Or when the finish is all beat up?

I'm sure awlgrip looks great after you put it on but does it look as good as gelcoat that's in good shape? How long would you say awlgrip looks good before it too starts to look sad? Is there any advantage to awlgripping sooner, when the hull is in decent shape as opposed to doing it when the hull finish is really poor?

For those who have awlgripped, have you been happy with it a few years down the line? Was it worth doing?

As I said, my boat cleaned up okay this year but I don't know how long she will continue to do that.

Thanks

[Wayne Grenier]

As long as you have gelcoat on the hull-it can be wet sanded and compounded and waxed back to life-my cd 28 is a 1974! and I still bring it back to a shine every year-ok the port side was re-gelcaoted after hurricane Bob in 1990-but there is very little difference in the end result on either side-the minus side is its alot of work! if your gelcoat is really dull-your looking at starting with a 320 grit wet sand-working your way up to 1500grit and then compounding and waxing!try it on a small section and see if you can bring it back to life-if not-you've lost nothing and have answered your own question! thanks-

[Bob Emmons]

Warren,
Cape Dory usually had a sufficient build of gelcoat, so if your top layer is in poor shape, I would indeed wetsand it to a new fresh layer, usuing progressivley finer paper.( Be sure to obtain wet-sanding type paper). This will definitely be taxing on the arms! If your gelcoat was patched in repair and mismatched in color like mine was, I did decide to Awlgrip, since no amount of sanding would produce a unifrom color finish. My boat was caught in Hurricane Bob and sustained damage to the gelcoat (previous owner), which resulted in the many gelcoat patches when I bought the boat. I did not like ther way she looked so I had the hull painted. Is it better? Not really, I have seen gelcaot 20+ years looking like new, whereas the shine on 2 part urethanes will lose its shine after 10 years. The one advantage of urethane paint is that you do not have to wax it like gel coat every year, it is a very hard, and not as porous of a surface.
Enjoy!
Bob Emmons

[Clay Stalker]

Hi Warren:

The previous posts are great information. I agree that CD gelcoat can be brought back to a nice gloss with the right amount of effort and the right materials. Awlgrip is one of those things that you do to a boat you want to keep for a long time as it's hard to recoup the cost. But it sure does look nice, and is very durable and easy to maintain. I would caution you not to shrinkwrap an awlgripped boat....at least not down to the paint...there are many sad boat owners with large paint bubbles on their beautiful awlgrip from shrinkwrapping. I just finished doing Yankee Lady's hull, using Maguire's polish and an electric polisher, and a finish coat of Maguire's paste wax, buffed with the polisher. Looks pretty nice for a 22 year old boat....It is glossy, but not exactly mirror-like....I would consider awlgrip for her in the future, but will try to keep the gelcoat up as long as I can....

Clay Stalker

[Warren Kaplan]

Personally, I like the original look of a gelcoat hull. I'm gonna try and keep it gelcoat as long as I can. I think awlgrip looks good too, but I just prefer the original look...uh...if I can keep some semblance of it.

Thanks for all the comments. They help!

[Tod Mills]

Poliglow. The hull on my little boat was oxidizing and it seemed as though no amount of polishing lasted for long. It was a losing battle. So, in desperation, I tried a product that is touted by several happy customers on another board as an easy way to a gleaming hull. I'll be starting my third season with it, and so far I'm a very happy camper. It is easy to apply and the results....well, judge for yourself (please excuse the faux lapstrakes )

[img]http://www.todspages.net/images/NC04a01-PGlowShine.jpg[/img]

It's not real cheap but I'm very happy with the results. You first go over the topsides with the supplied cleaner and scrub pad, then wipe on a number of coats of the P'glow, allowing it to dry between each coat (by the time you get to one end it'll be dry and you can start again without delay).

Then at the start of each following season you apply one more coat.

It is an ammonia-soluble polymer (you can remove it with windex).

You don't want to put it on anything other than the topsides or perhaps deckhouse sides; no walking surfaces or seating surfaces or places you may lean up against. I thought I'd be clever and do my cockpit seatbacks (not wood like on a CD) but found that the Poliglow picks up the oils from skin and then attracts dirt.

I don't know how long it would take to do your size hull, but it is pretty easy to do and at the end of the season it looked almost the same; maybe a very slight loss of gleam, rejuvinated with the one coat in the spring.

I don't own stock in the company, etc......

[Cathy Monaghan]

Hi Warren,

I agree with everyone else regarding wet-sanding (600 grit and finer) then follow that up with Poliglow as Tod mentioned and you may never have to compound again. That's my 2 cents anyway.


Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[Warren Kaplan]

I'll keep all this in mind for next year, since I already waxed SQN's hull this week. Never heard of Poliglow before. Then again, there are lots of things I haven't heard about. A pity!

[Cathy Monaghan]

Hey Warren, click on the link below to find out about Poliglow:

http://www.poliglowproducts.com/

[Warren Kaplan]

Cathy,

Thanks. I'll make sure I remember it for next year!!! I like the hangers too!

[Bill Michne]

We had Mintaka AwlGriped back in 2000. It has held up well. This year we are having the hull buffed lightly to bring up the shine, and are having a few scratches repaired. It looks like new, and should last another 6 or 7 years before buffing again. The downside of AwlGrip is that with a dark color (Mintaka is a very dark green) even the slightest scratches show.