Best way to fix an oxidized grey gelcoat hull?

B

brazenarticle

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Jul 8, 2012
126
Catalina 28 North East
Ugggggh. not hopeless but it will take effort to strip it. Polyglo remover from poliglo kinda works, it took me several passes to get most off. I’ve heard floor stripper with hot water works too.
Wet sanding the poliglo just gums up the paper. Time or chemicals will take it off.
After sailing season is the time to worry about the shine of the hull. From the cockpit on a good day you can’t see it.
Sail now, shine later.
 
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Sunbird22358

Sunbird22358

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Jun 2, 2004
1,923
Oday Day Sailer Wareham, MA
O'DAY built a few of the later 192 as the 192 LE, and they had the Grey gelcoat (like the 272 LE) and included a few "extras" as standard.
 
Captain Larry-DH

Captain Larry-DH

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Jun 14, 2010
2,096
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
If Poliglo you need to remove it with floor stripper. Then sand and paint. You’re good for 7-10 years.
Once gelcoat gets to a certain point of porosity, compound and wax doesn’t work longer than about 4-5 months before the gelcoat looks chalky again. That’s probably why the prior owner used poliglo. Poliglo sucks. Been there done that with the Mainesail method. Paint is the answer.
 
GSBNY

GSBNY

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May 9, 2019
138
O’Day 192 New York
So I got a chance to do some testing trying to take that Poliglow off. Winning combination was Zep Floor Stripper, 1000 grit wet sand, 3M heavy duty compound, presta polish. Didn’t put wax on the test spot since I’m going to go over it all over again. You can see the spot I worked on.

E034C147-5291-4426-8759-C485516FD405.jpeg


Now that I know what will work, gotta get the right supplies to finish the job. Don’t have a day off for a while so my plan is to go section by section after work all week.
 
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JRacer

JRacer

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Aug 9, 2011
1,333
Beneteau 310 Cheney KS (Wichita)
Coming up nicely. Might try to get away with 1500 or 2000 grit wet sand and see how it comes out. I'm one for less abrasive is always better if possible.
 
GSBNY

GSBNY

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May 9, 2019
138
O’Day 192 New York
JRacer said:
Coming up nicely. Might try to get away with 1500 or 2000 grit wet sand and see how it comes out. I'm one for less abrasive is always better if possible.
Click to expand
Agreed, I only had 1000 grit on me today but I’ll test again with 1200. The problem is that the residual Poliglow gums the paper up so I need something a tiny bit aggressive to chew through the crap.
 
GSBNY

GSBNY

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May 9, 2019
138
O’Day 192 New York
For anyone looking for the best way to remove poliglow in the future:

Get a plastic spackle knife.

Spray the area down with floor stripper, let it soak, scrub it with a sponge, then spray it again and immediately use the plastic spackle knife to scrape the Poliglow off the hull. Hold the knife by the tip ends of the blade so it conforms to the hull. Works perfectly.

After the spackle knife I sprayed it clean with water, wiped it with acetone, wet sanded with 1000 grit, compounded, polished, waxed and repeat for the next section. When I waxed I would go from my new area and recover the areas I did previously to build up a good coating of wax on the hull.

Here’s some shots of the progress:
65C4C89A-1CAA-46D4-8991-85C9FD7D42C0.jpeg
F1877701-BEB0-487E-A1D4-0E5D2004D893.jpeg
F4C2A856-BD29-4ED6-97F8-98072F454FEE.jpeg
 
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GSBNY

GSBNY

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May 9, 2019
138
O’Day 192 New York
Got both sides done finally, just the small transom left. In total, it was about 6 hours of work over a few days.

Starboard side before and after:

208F45C4-6953-499C-A001-7C2071E31516.jpeg


F2B5FD7A-0A6D-4E92-9525-D7E1DFB60634.jpeg


EC36E35C-0F56-4E57-8321-8D7BC03CF08F.jpeg


Hopefully the weather holds out and I can get the mast up tomorrow. Then need to make a bridal so I can use the crane at the local yacht club to launch and retrieve.
 
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Tally Ho

Tally Ho

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Jan 7, 2011
4,758
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
GSBNY said:
Got both sides done finally, just the small transom left. In total, it was about 6 hours of work over a few days.

Starboard side before and after:

View attachment 166035

View attachment 166036

View attachment 166037

Hopefully the weather holds out and I can get the mast up tomorrow. Then need to make a bridal so I can use the crane at the local yacht club to launch and retrieve.
Click to expand
Looks great..I may need you to come out to Indiana and show me how to do it on my O’Day 322.
I will bring beer:beer:

450E90B1-3378-4DEF-9626-2F0E2DE5B0A8.jpeg WP_20150418_12_16_48_Pro.jpg IMG_1138.JPG IMG_1143.JPG
 
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Captain Larry-DH

Captain Larry-DH

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Jun 14, 2010
2,096
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
Looks great! Sorry to be a skeptic, but if you find it chalky again by August, it is time to paint. Wishing you good luck.
 
G

GregL564

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Apr 4, 2013
115
O'day 240 NY, NY (City Island)
Larry,

Any advice for painting a small boat? I know some boatyards that do awlgrip but it seems geared for larger boats, and is very expensive. Could awlgrip be a DIY or is it best left to professionals? I know another boat in my yard was painted in an auto-body shop that the previous owner ran. Could that be an option for a trailerable boat?

Thanks,

Greg
 
Captain Larry-DH

Captain Larry-DH

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Jun 14, 2010
2,096
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
@GregL564 I’m not an expert on DIY painting. There are many threads on the topic. I had my boat painted by a pro using Awlcraft 2000 (similar chemistry to Imron) because it’s more easily repaired than Awlgrip. It’s still looking great after 6 years.
My advice: If you have more time than money, roll and tip may be your best choice. If you have more money than time, hire a pro.
 
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Davidasailor26

Davidasailor26

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May 17, 2004
5,071
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
GregL564 said:
Larry,

Any advice for painting a small boat? I know some boatyards that do awlgrip but it seems geared for larger boats, and is very expensive. Could awlgrip be a DIY or is it best left to professionals? I know another boat in my yard was painted in an auto-body shop that the previous owner ran. Could that be an option for a trailerable boat?

Thanks,

Greg
Click to expand
Andy at BoatworksToday is just doing a series now on Alexseal. I have no experience with it, but he seems pleased so far -
 
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Daveinet

Daveinet

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Sep 20, 2014
1,320
Rob Legg RL24 Chain O'Lakes
I can tell you that if a boat is oxidized, the best cleaner is good old fashioned baking soda. I've tried a lot of different product specific cleaners and rubbing compound, but nothing works better than baking soda. This is especially true if you are cleaning on a hot sunny day. All of your cleaners and rubbing compound tend to dry up and eventually stain the porous surface. The dirt just clings to the pours in the gel coat, and doesn't really come off. Baking soda on the other had holds the dirt in suspension. You can even let the baking soda fully dry on, mixed with the dirt, yet it will just rinse right off leaving you with a clean surface.
Of course once you get it that clean, you will need to protect that surface. With my previous boat, I found using Zep high gloss floor polish to work well. You have to get the surface really clean, and do not put a bunch of coats on it. 3 coats max, otherwise it will tend to flake off in a few years and you will have a mess. My previous motorhome lasted more than 5 years. I've since sold it, and as far as I know, it has not ever flaked off. (I'm in regular contact with the new owner)
 
Parsons

Parsons

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Jul 12, 2011
1,165
Leopard 40 Jupiter, Florida
I just want to complement @GSBNY on his great community spirit. Although he only has 20 posts under his belt, he's really done an outstanding thread here. He asked about a common problem, was appreciative of the suggestions, and most importantly, he documented his project with descriptions and pictures. In ten year's time, when some new sailor has problems with Poliglow floor wax on a boat, they'll return to this thread for advice.
 
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Captain Larry-DH

Captain Larry-DH

.
Jun 14, 2010
2,096
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
:thumbup:
Parsons said:
I just want to complement @GSBNY on his great community spirit. Although he only has 20 posts under his belt, he's really done an outstanding thread here. He asked about a common problem, was appreciative of the suggestions, and most importantly, he documented his project with descriptions and pictures. In ten year's time, when some new sailor has problems with Poliglow floor wax on a boat, they'll return to this thread for advice.
Click to expand
+1 I want to compliment @Parsons for complementing @GSBNY
 
Brian S

Brian S

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Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Captain Larry-DH said:
:thumbup:
+1 I want to compliment @Parsons for complementing @GSBNY
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Awwww, come on Parsons and GSBNY! You guys are making the internets look good, polite, and pleasant! :p:p I know you guys can do better (worse?) than that! :poke:

I'm kidding, the reason I hang around here and trailersailer.com is because there is so much polite and helpful discourse. It's refreshing to see how good we sailors can be on forums, compared to the rest of the dreck on the internet. :plus:
 
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