Quick answers
I wrote a long (and to my mind beautiful) long response - almost finished then my wife came in an deleted it! Therefore here is the quick response: 1. Water dilution. Except for one exception (non-skid decks after soaking in CLEAR OR SEA GLOW) you never use water dilution with these two "Cleanser/Conditioners". This if becuase you do not want to wash the conditioner out of the plastic pores(it emulsifies in water. Instead you wipe off with wet paper towel, then towel dry. This removes conditioner (that is sort of goopy) from the surface but not deep down in the plastic. The conditioner is VERY IMPORTANT. It is what increases suppleness of vinyl, gives depth to dark gelcoat, prevents early return of oxidation and prevents mildew. WIth SEA GLOW, the fluorescent additives even restore brightness to yellowing white or fading colored plastics. The fluorescence also helps prevent color fade and yellowing in the first place. BY CONTRAST, you ALWAYS thoroughly rinse off IG pink with water and it CAN be used either neat (e.g. cleaning up old 5200 or uncured resins/paints etc) or with water dilution (e.g. as a boat soap or bilge cleaner. 2. Use of pads, towel etc. You can often use just paper towel with the cleaners (less damaging - sort of like a skin cleansing lotion. The exceptions are smooth hull gelcoat (USE THE PAD VERY LIGHTLY -to "open up a surface barrier salts or whatever, which otherwise prevents the cleansing lotion/conditioner from penetrating down into the pores, removinb deep down chalk/stains and impregnating with anti-aging conditioner. The other use for the 3M pads is on encrusted or mildewed surfaces where the scuffing speeds things up. The torn edge of the pads used with a chopping motion removes surface diret and mildew from the tight grain of vinyl, where brushes cannot reach. 3. Use of SILKENSEAL WITH WAX. Use SILKENSEAL to seal the surface of the gelcoat after cleaning (will seal in the conditioners). It Does not matter if shine is variable, streaky etc, - the main pointis that the surface is sealed and you can quit for the day if you have to. Then apply PASTE WAX (I like Collinite paste wax, since liquid wax will undo the good work by leaching out the conditioner) You will have to at least hand buff. You can stop at this stage it you want with a silky "waxed look". For wet look and increased durability of surface (even Collinite dulls by 3 months) Shine the waxed surface with SILKENSEAL. You can do this whenever you want to increase gloss. 5. Maintain the surface. I find that water rinsing is important in salt water or high pollution conditions. To wash down use boat soap or just a capful of Pink in a bucket of water. Touch up gloss about one a month but will depend of sunlight conditions, pollution etc. 6. The kit goes a long way if boat is not excessively porous or has lots of freeboard. Plus do not waste product. One complaint about "streaking" with SEA GLOW on a hot day was due to trying to do the whole boat side in one go so that the cleanser was evaporating and leaving excess conditioner (that is not water miscible) on the surface. Do an area that can be wiped clean under the prevailing weather conditions (should be above 60 degrees F. Water with paper towel does not get rid of the conditioener residue adequately - there has to be some cleanser present. If it has evaporated, use a little of any of the cleansers (best job for Pink). Hope this is of some help. I have had so many queries about use that I HAVE TO REDO INSTRUCTIONS- I need all the advice ad feedback I can get. Your questions have really helped me to be "in your shoes". The irony is that use of these products is so easy and so easy to demonstrate and yet so hard (at least for me) to expain in writing. Enjoy! Jim Willis Superwax replaces the SILKENSEAL/PASTE WAX finish but instructions on that are "another ball of wax!" (pun intended). Down the road it can always put applied over existing surface if gelcoat is still protected by impregnation by the cleanser/conditioner.
