Cleaner Wax... which brand?

Meriachee · Nov 19, 2014

There are a couple of tricks; one is to do a cut polish, which is the grit in the paste, but no wax, then use a polymer like 3M Finesse which fills polishing swirl scratches, then wax. You get a much, much nicer finish without taking a ton of gelcoat off.
Depending how much of the surface oxidation you want to remove, you can get the grit in almost any grade from about 600 all the way up to 5000 from auto body refinishing places like Napa.
Using a good polisher, and only wanting to remove the very top layer, and intending to do at least one polymer coat, then something in the 1500-2000 range would probably be good.
Or, you could just get a bottle of the cut and wax stuff from the boat store, and do it in one coat. That stuff is probably in the 1000 grit range.
Just my 2 cents. Your results may vary.

Cheers
Gary

Rich Stidger · Nov 19, 2014

I use Presta products for polishing and follow with the hard paste wax by FleetWax. But you already said that you didn't want to go to that level. So I offer the suggestion of using the FleetWax brand of cleaner wax. It comes in a 16 oz bottle for the usual high marine price, but I use it in tight areas that are impossible, or at least very hard, to use any kind of buffer. It is a compromise for sure, but it does produce a reasonable finish.

You might like it too.

I can't tell you the ratio of cleaner to wax. Sorry.

gettinthere · Nov 19, 2014

Colonite makes great waxes. We use their cleaner wax most of the time. We have other things to do besides spending all that time on all those steps.

frankies56 · Nov 19, 2014

Hi I use orapine its a boat wash that has wax makes to boat look great. it is sold at west marine its pricy but a little goes a long way about 2 oz for a 37 ft boat. try it you will like it !!!!!

Rich Stidger · Nov 19, 2014

Brian D said:
Gary, thanks. That would ultimately lead to a new boat look. Maybe one day I will go for that, the next time the boat is hauled for a bottom paint. But for now, I just want a "oooo... looks nice" kind of look.

Rich, the liquid Fleetwax or the paste Fleetwax?

Brian,

It is the liquid cleaner wax #870. Here is a link to the Collinite website:

http://www.collinite.com/marine-wax/liquid-fleetwax/

Sumner · Nov 19, 2014

The Macgregor was heavily oxidized and it took a couple partial days to do the whole hull with a Makita buffer (9227c). I really like how it turned out. I removed the oxidation and buffed with a black pad and Presta Ultra Cutting Creme. It is aggressive so be careful around edges. I could of gone next to a polishing compound but it looked so good at that point I went straight to Presta's Marine UV Creme Wax and really like it. I also have used it on the Endeavour with good results.

http://www.prestaproducts.com/Marine_UV_Creme_Wax-details.aspx

The wax is super easy to use. Wipe on and then off and that is it. Don't even have to use the buffer on it.

It is hard to get a good picture showing the gloss but you can kind of see by the reflection of the ladder. I didn't wax the very bottom of the hull just above the bottom paint as I want to paint a boot strip on when I get to Florida. When I started the boat was a chalky white and the wide black strip was heavily faded. I really thought I was going to probably start by sanding with a very fine paper. The Endeavour hull was even worst looking and I used Presta's Super Cut on it but it is really aggressive so you have to be careful and then go another step before the polish. I dreaded doing this job but it really wasn't bad with the Makita,

Sumner

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Cleaner Wax... which brand?

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