Gel-coat...wax, or no wax?

[Hoytman]

...no those striations are real - gelcoat...

If your talking about the blue picture I'd agree. When I first looked at it, it looked like oxidized gel-coat, but I thought you meant it had been painted and I was seeing an optical illusion maybe caused by the sun. I didn't see the words gel-coat above the picture, so I thought both boats had been painted and that my eyes were playing tricks on me. I got mixed up somehow. I've seen blue worse than that. I'm sure you have too. Maroon colors are especially bad for fading and oxidizing...auto's or boats.

[Custom Detail]

( the following excerpt is from and article written by Randy Lowe for RV Pro magazine July 2006 &#169



Plastic rust! The gel coat aging process.

Exposure to ozone and ultraviolet light causes the polymers on the surface to gradually breakdown. Think of this oxidation process as “plastic rust”. As the surface oxidizes, pores open in the gel coat containing oxidized resin molecules called “chalk”. This chalk eventually turns the entire outer surface a dull, opaque color. Gel coat oxidation can be greatly reduced by keeping the surface sealed, but not eliminated. Gel coat oxidizes no matter what, regular cleaning and maintenance will helps. Sometime gel coat is so badly oxidized from neglected that nothing seems to help. Coatings can be an alternative they are costly and the ROI can make them unaffordable.©

[glen e]

( the following excerpt is from and article written by Randy Lowe for RV Pro magazine July 2006 ©)



Plastic rust! The gel coat aging process.

Exposure to ozone and ultraviolet light causes the polymers on the surface to gradually breakdown. Think of this oxidation process as “plastic rust”. As the surface oxidizes, pores open in the gel coat containing oxidized resin molecules called “chalk”. This chalk eventually turns the entire outer surface a dull, opaque color. Gel coat oxidation can be greatly reduced by keeping the surface sealed, but not eliminated. Gel coat oxidizes no matter what, regular cleaning and maintenance will helps. Sometime gel coat is so badly oxidized from neglected that nothing seems to help. Coatings can be an alternative they are costly and the ROI can make them unaffordable.©

I like that...--> "plastic rust"<--- and boy if it's really chalked, it can gum up a wool pad real quick at first - prepare to have several wool pads avail depending on the job and clean them often...it's also backbreaking work compared to vehicle correction...