Restore shine to old gel coat.... uh, suggestions?

Catmando

Catmando

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Apr 20, 2016
47
Catalina 22 293 Huntington Lake, CA
My '70 Catalina 22 (#293) has been sitting on the hard for the last three years, as we have what you might call a drought here in Central California. My usual sailing domain is Huntington Lake, but nothing but stumps and 4x4's there since 2012. Pulled it out the other day and noticed the wax job from the fall of 2011 (last time I sailed her) has left a chalky residue all over my nice shorts. I started to clean the hull with a fine rubbing compound, and then realized it is for "automotive paints" and no where says "Hey, this is great on gel-coats, too!" so I stopped. My local car parts places have no idea of what kind of product to use on a gel coat. I can live with a dull finish if I must, but she really shines when she, uh, is shiney....
 
B

Benny17441

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May 24, 2004
7,164
CC 30 South Florida
The old oxidized surface needs to be removed. Most effective is the use of wet sand paper 1000 grade
applied manually (no power sanders). After that apply the finish product of your choice.
 
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C

CaptDon01

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Nov 19, 2008
2,129
Catalina C-22 MK-II Parrish, FL
Buy the Poly-Glow kit and you won't believe the results. Checkout their website, buy the kit, and you'll thank me later for the tip. It will last about two years, then you use their stripper to clean off the old Poly-Glow, and wipe on several more coats and you're good for another couple years. A kit will do a C-22 about 3 times.

Don
 
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Catmando

Catmando

.
Apr 20, 2016
47
Catalina 22 293 Huntington Lake, CA
I always thought an old boat would turn out to become a labor of love, and that link demonstrated the truth of that! Thanks!.... now, someone school me on what to look for in new main and jib sheets... and how much will a new main sail run me?
 
kito

kito

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Sep 13, 2012
2,011
1979 Hunter Cherubini 30 Clemmons
I am going the Poli glow route too but only because my gelcoat is extremely thin. Only option would be a paint job at this point. When I removed the original cove vinyl pinstripes, it stood proud at least .015 over the exposed gelcoat.
 
Last edited:
atrometer

atrometer

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Feb 24, 2009
89
Beneteau 36cc Fort Myers
CaptDon01 said:
Buy the Poly-Glow kit and you won't believe the results. Checkout their website, buy the kit, and you'll thank me later for the tip. It will last about two years, then you use their stripper to clean off the old Poly-Glow, and wipe on several more coats and you're good for another couple years. A kit will do a C-22 about 3 times.

Don
Click to expand
Couldn't agree more! Not much elbow grease either and MUCH cheaper than a yard wet sand, compound, wax etc!!!
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
23,023
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
CaptDon01 said:
Buy the Poly-Glow kit and you won't believe the results. Checkout their website, buy the kit, and you'll thank me later for the tip. It will last about two years, then you use their stripper to clean off the old Poly-Glow, and wipe on several more coats and you're good for another couple years. A kit will do a C-22 about 3 times.

Don
Click to expand
Good advice, except, except, except...please do your own homework on PolyGlow. Some folks like it, some not so much. On this or any other boating forum, type in PolyGLow and read away. I would guess that the PolyGlow website would have, uhm, nothing but glowing endorsements. :)

Then, and only then, make your decision.

Your boat, your choice. :)
 
Gene Neill

Gene Neill

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Sep 30, 2013
3,593
1988 Catalina 22 North Florida
I've been practicing Maine's method with the 3M compound followed by Presta Ultra Cutting Creme. It hasn't come easily to me, but I'm getting better at it. I use Maine's method on the hull, but on the deck where surfaces are more complex, I use wet sandpaper starting around 600 and going up to 2500. I get about the same shine using either method. Then a couple coats of Collinite wax.

I feel like I could have gotten a deeper shine if I had been a little more aggressive with the initial compounding, but I was afraid of over doing it. I didn't want to see the dreaded dark shadow of fiberglass start to appear through the gelcoat!



 
Catmando

Catmando

.
Apr 20, 2016
47
Catalina 22 293 Huntington Lake, CA
Thickness of the gel coat? hummmm.... well, not sure how many times in the last 46 years the boat has been sanded, polished, compounded, waxed, etc. The hull is baby blue, and there are a few places I can see a pattern under the color, and a couple of scratches show a dark skin below. I used some very fine scotch bright on the area around the numbers, which removed the chalky surface, but I don't know anything about fiberglass and gel coat and such. Gel coat can be replaced? areas, or whole?
 
Catmando

Catmando

.
Apr 20, 2016
47
Catalina 22 293 Huntington Lake, CA
Here is that "pattern" I see on the starboard side... I used some 1200 wet sand paper and found this under the chalky surface. Can anyone advise what I am looking at, and if it is okay, or should I stay close to shore.....????
20160508_170327.jpg
 
Apex

Apex

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Jun 19, 2013
1,212
C&C 30 Elk Rapids
That is fiberglass read-through, a buildup, not wear problem. Many boat builders use strand mat (and chopped) to mask patterning of the directional mat below. What you are seeing is normal, use a compound, it will get into the surfaces below the pattern as well, i suspect you are hitting only the high spots by sanding with a block
 
Catmando

Catmando

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Apr 20, 2016
47
Catalina 22 293 Huntington Lake, CA
I appreciate the information! My wife said she appreciated that I wanted our boat to shine nicer than all the others on our street, but not if it takes 3-5 hours per side. A quick audit of the sailboats in our ZipCode shows it is the shineyst one, evem with one chalky side....
 
T_Cat

T_Cat

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Aug 8, 2014
333
Catalina 22 1987 New Design. 14133 "LadyHawke" Modesto CA
My first poli-glow kit is arriving this week. I'll keep you posted on the results..
 
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S

shaubby

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Dec 5, 2014
42
Catalina 22 Baltimore
T_Cat said:
My first poli-glow kit is arriving this week. I'll keep you posted on the results..
Click to expand
Let us know how you make out. I also ordered last week and am hoping to apply on Friday. Be sure to take before and after pics.
 
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Catmando

Catmando

.
Apr 20, 2016
47
Catalina 22 293 Huntington Lake, CA
I had to stop polishing and waxing in order to take care of an open wound in the rudder, leading edge, bottom corner... $25 in fiberglass, $8 grinding wheel, and 42 minutes of you-tube videos, and it looks more like a recovering wound. The nice thing is I can grind it down and repeat the process until I am good at it! Then, move on to the spots on the deck that are a little spongy! Went out to the local hole of water (Kaweah Lake) yesterday and had a nice breeze for about 4 hours. Started to look like I knew what I was doing in about, uh, 3 hours and 42 minutes..... tonight? replace the shear pin in the prop...
 
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S

shaubby

.
Dec 5, 2014
42
Catalina 22 Baltimore
PoliGlow results.

Holy shine Batman! I was optimistic and hoped for a slight shine, but nothing quite like this from my dull gelcoat.

Pre Wash...
IMG_1185

IMG_1185

Pre-wash

Post PoliPrep...
IMG_1186

IMG_1186

Post PoliPrep
IMG_1188

IMG_1188

Post PoliPrep

PoliGlow Application...
IMG_1191

IMG_1191

PoliGlow Application

Final results...
IMG_1193

IMG_1193

End result

Boat stand reflection 10+ feet
IMG_1195

IMG_1195

End result - Stand + 10 feet
 
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