Restoring gelcoat

Our E32 III which is over 30 years old needs a bit gel coat attention in the cockpit but mostly on the cabin top. We live almost two hours from the boat and this year my time was spent getting the boat in good mechanical order with a new transmission and refit on the heat exchanger. You're find a post about it on this site. So there was no real time to spend cleaning the boat up and doing some polishing at the beginning of the season like I usually do. "So call someone!", my wife said. So I did. A local (to Annapolis) boat cleaning service that sent their manger out to look Vesper over. He said that the gel coat was very oxidized (duh, I know that) and recommended that they do a "heavy duty oxidation scrub" followed by a regular washing about once a month. Also, that waxing the gel coat wouldn't do a thing to make it shine. (HUH?!) That didn't sound right to me so I have a call into another all around boat service that I've used in the past but I've not spoken to them yet.

So here I am asking my EYO friends for advice. With all the old Ericsons that you all own I'm sure to get some answers based on experience. I've polished the cockpit and cabin top before and have gotten things to shine so I'm at a loss as to what the manager of the boat cleaning service was talking about but I know that I don't know everything so....I'm asking.

Here is info you can use

When Mr. Collins writes about a subject, in great (polished) depth, I do pay attention.
:nerd:

https://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/52772-tips-compound-polish-wax.html

^^^ +1 to Maine Sail's guidance.

I printed it out and followed it to the letter last year, and ended up with a boat that fairly glistened.

Bruce

Had a 1973 C&C 30 That I thought was beyond help. Was considering painting the decks when I came across the above linked article. Its a lot of work but the end result is fantastic.
Have since done our E34 from the waterline up to the mast base with beautiful results.

I have been using Poli Glow for about 5 years from the waterline to the deck. From the deck up I use Starbrite deck cleaner with PTEF. I apply Poli Glow every Spring, I use the deck cleaner every month. Opinions vary on Poli Glow, but I am a fan.

GrandpaSteve said:

I have been using Poli Glow for about 5 years from the waterline to the deck. From the deck up I use Starbrite deck cleaner with PTEF. I apply Poli Glow every Spring, I use the deck cleaner every month. Opinions vary on Poli Glow, but I am a fan.
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I too looked at PolyGlo but a dock neighbor who is a chemical engineer, looked at the ingredients and said that Polyglo was essentially acrylic floor polish, maybe with an additional UV inhibitor but essentially floor polish. In the SF bay area, UV is not a major problem so he uses Ace Hardware Acrylic Floor polish. Use ON/OFF to really clean the hull, apply as many coats of the Ace product as you have time. Use a very short bristle brush (like the kind Home Depot sells for painting corners but the flat version). Apply very very thin, it dries quickly so you can do one side, then the other, then just keep on going around, say 4-5 coats. Remove the Ace product the Ace floor stripper when needed and reapply. Cheap, 1 Gal does about 10 coats.

I've used an acrylic coating on my heavily oxidized 1976 E29. I remove and recoat every five years or so.

what product do you use to remove the acrylic coating?

Herbert, Zep floor wax remover.

I use Ace's floor stripper which is probably very similar. The instructions say to dilute the stripper, apply and let stand but on our vertical surfaces, I find that insufficient. I generally use a spray bottle at full or near full strength and then have to scrub difficult areas with a scotch brite pad. Have you found a better way?

That's exactly my process.

https://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/52772-tips-compound-polish-wax.html

Loren,

The link https://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/52772-tips-compound-polish-wax.html is not working for me,

MJS

Loren Beach said:

When Mr. Collins writes about a subject, in great (polished) depth, I do pay attention.
:nerd:

https://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/52772-tips-compound-polish-wax.html

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