How shiny should my top-side be?

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Dec 26, 2009
211
Oday 22 cleveland
Hello all,
I've gained a wealth of information here and I thank you all.
I finished - refinishing my hull with some 3M refinisher and it looks great!
I have a 77, 22ft O'Day.
My question is this....Is the top-side sopposta be as shiny as the hull?, It's a semi-dull white and working on that is my next step.
Thanks a million!!!!.

Kevin
 

RECESS

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Dec 20, 2003
1,509
Catalina 27 . St. Mary's Georgia
When you say top side are speaking of the deck, where you walk? If so then you want it to have a matte finish. You do not want the glare of the sun coming off it and causing you more fatigue than you would have from sailing and water reflection anyway. If you are using a color from a marine supplier they usually have an additive that reduces the gloss but keeps the color consistent with where else you used that color on your boat.
 
Last edited:
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
Hello all,
I've gained a wealth of information here and I thank you all.
I finished - refinishing my hull with some 3M refinisher and it looks great!
I have a 77, 22ft O'Day.
My question is this....Is the top-side sopposta be as shiny as the hull?, It's a semi-dull white and working on that is my next step.
Thanks a million!!!!.

Kevin
Kevin,
After your boat has been in the water for a while, I don't think you'll notice much difference in the topsides from the rest of the hull. Boats are hard to keep clean all the time. It's just the nature of the beast. Now take my boat for instance; My boat always looks dirty, because most of the time it is dirty. My cabin inside looks like a dog pound because I have a dog and she likes to lay around inside on the V berth mostly. So consequently I get more than a few hairs on the mattress. With that said though, I live in my O'Day 222. I cook in it and sleep in it, and take showers out in the cockpit before I turn in for the night. I try to keep my boat as clean as I can, but I made up my mind a long time ago when I bought her new at the boat show, that I was going to have fun with my boat. A friend of mine keeps his boat so clean that you could eat off the deck and cabin floor. He won't cook on his boat and I don't think that he's ever spent a night on it since he's owned it. Yet I detect a little bit of envy when he sees me living out of my boat. Another friend of mine is exactly the same way. He has a boat exactly like mine and he won't cook in it or change it in any way. So it's very commendable that you want your boat to look great, but never sacrifice the fun that you can have with it for the sake of keeping it immaculate at all times. All work and no play gets pretty old after a while. I've "been there and done that." Have fun this season!
Joe
 
Jun 2, 2004
1,952
Oday Day Sailer Wareham, MA
If you are refering to the deck surfaces, I would clean/polish and wax only the smooth sections of the deck and cabin trunk, leave the nonskid areas unwaxed/polished. I have used a Star-Brite brand non-skid cleaner on the areas of my deck/cockpit where I might step (all the nonskid areas) or used boat soaps and a scrub brush to get the dirt out that sticks in the nonskid surfaces. A couple of coats of a good marine wax or polish/wax on hte smooth areas will seal them to help keep them cleaner and reducing the tendency of fiberglass gelcoat to oxidize and chaulk.
 
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