Gelcoat question

[Randy Church]

Whenever I wipe up water/dew from my boat deck and then wring the rag overboard, the water is white. It's almost seems like the gelcoat is an ablative coating. This is the original 1984 deck and it has never been painted. Any ideas out there on what is happening and should I continue to maintain it with Rolloff for mildew and 3m wax?

Thank you,
Randy

 

[justsomeguy]

It's oxidization residue. If you go to the "Musings with Maine Sail" forum, there's a thread at the top dedicated to cleaning that up.