ISLAND GIRL IS NOT A N ACRYLIC
POLYGLOW is probably the best of the acrylic coatings for fiberglass gelcoat (acording to Practical Sailor). Besides the owner is friend of mine! Other acrylic coatings I have seen are NewgLass (used to be at West Marine) Vertglass, TSRW, Port o'London. There is also a professionally applied system (whose name escapes me) that was also mentioned in Practical Sailor. This had the best shine but the test in a way unfair since this system is used with prior wet sanding. My friends in Boat yards also say that they use (similar) LPU clearcoat on bad dark-colored gelcoat. Of these products I have only used Polyglow applied after prep of the glecoat by our SEA GLOW Cleanser/Cponditioner. ALL OF THE HOME_APPLIED PRODUCTS ARE A WATER-BASED ACRYLIC URETHANE COATING BASED UPON THE NO-WAX FLOOR TREATMENT First introduced by Johnson & Johnson (Mop& Glow, Future etc). WIth a good formulation the sine and durability has to outlast a wax because it is essentially a clear-coat varnish. Problems- yellowing (all of them to some extent) & brittleness that can cause flaking/peeling if the underlying surface has any remaining wax/silicones/old chalk (which like rust keeps growing). The ISLAND GIRL System is in two parts. The most important is the Cleanser/Conditioner (SEA GLOW FOR White or bright colors) that dissolves out the chalk, puts nutrients in the gelcoat that stop further oxidation & ildew and (in case of SEA GLOW) vastly brighten the color. Then the surface has to be sealed. There are cases where an acrylic might be better (e.g. non-skid - we are looking at this) but a polymer/wax-based system is more repairable. Also boy bonding tighter (especially to the conditioner) it canot flake or peel - it can only be worn away (by periodid wiping, gentle buffing, abrasion) or by being destroyed by UV/eathering instead of the gelcoat (i.e. the surrace can dull. Our SIMPLY BRILLIANT is based upon a super-hard synthetic wax (harder than canuaba) and cross-linked polymers with the shine produced by silicones (as in ALL waxes). The shine approaches that of LPU. Our spray sealant is a polymer/silicone related to the wax and can be used as a "sandwich" with conventional paste waxes THe best is Collinite Fleetwax. We find that either approach (because of the film thikness and composition) outlasts conventional waxed finishes that are very thin - especially thin with liquid waxes. These are fine for paint that has a close structure but not for gelcoat that becomes porous. Unlike acrylics the wax can easily be removed or "cut back" with some of our cleaner to remove d polution stains etc. All surfaces (and all polymers) yellow somewhat with age but use of SEA GLOW underneath elminates the problem (the fluorescence gets in the coating) and you cannot see mild discoloration). washing with well-diluted Island Girl Pink or a mild detergent will not damage or remove the wax. JEEZ I do rabbit on! Hope this of some help! Thanks Jim WIllis
