Any long term answers for faded black stripes?

[Hardcrab]

This might be a dumb question, but I would like to learn.

I'm getting tired of doing the "blacks" on my 05 M.
I'm not looking for recommendations for any wax product. I've tried quite a few.

I like our boat to always look it's best.
I dislike the dull, faded grey look. I wish I could.
I usually need to clean and wax the black window stripes at least once every three weeks, on average.
Thats a lot of elbow grease just for the labor of love.

Has anyone painted over the black gel coat with a primo, top notch black paint to reduce or eliminate the need for constant waxing?

Will this approach even work?

Thanks for any insight and suggestions you might offer.

[bastonjock]

Hardcrab

my experience comes from painting cars,all colours fade under sunlight,I dont know how well or how durable automotive paint would be on a boat but a paint with a laquer or "clear coat" would hold its shine longer.I would ask one of the marine paint manufacturers questions regarding sunfade etc

when you wax your boat,be carefull not to use pollish or compound that has Ammonia in its make up,ammonia will dull or yellow your hull.Manufacturers compositions vary accross the pond,i intend to use farecla G3 to "mop" my boat with this winter lay up.then i will try a two pack acrillic wax such as diamond bright to finish it off and hold the shine.

If i find that the black still fades,i would go for something like international paints,spray the stuff on.I was considering changing the entire colour scheme of the boat but im concerned that it may devalue my boat

[R Rae]

Hi
For quite a few years I suffered the 'dull gray' finish on my black striping until someone suggested stripping off all traces of the previous wax............Voila!.........With my very next application of El Cheapo Turtle Wax (I own the Company...........only kidding ) the black was back.

.......and I used clear ammonia for my stripper(from the local dollar store). The very first application of the stripper took the longest, due to the accumulated build-up of old wax over the years, After that, no problems.

R

[Hardcrab]

bastonjock,
I was wondering about a good auto paint like two part Imron or something. Cars just don't seem to need the amount of work that the black gelcoat requires. I don't see a difference in regards to sun exposure on a car to a boat on a trailer.
I can do the blacks back to an almost factory shine and leave the boat parked on the trailer.
When I return, two weeks later, the blacks are 50/50 if I need to do them again.
Certainly by the next two week interval, they have started downhill (at least to my standard) and require the treatment.
If I let them go yet another two weeks, or six weeks total, it's four times as much work to bring them back.
When the boat was new to me, I let them go 3 months once before I waxed. Never again. Talk about work.
I have never seen an auto paint job start to fade in such a short time.
The starboard side is always the worse one.
It gets more direct sunlight due to the way it's parked in the lot.
The black waterline and upper hull stripe are always fine. Even the more vertical sections of the window stripes are somewhat better.
But those sections that face up on the bow are killers.
Is it the black color itself that heats up so bad and perhaps "burning" the wax coat?
Do you think that an auto paint will be as bad?

R Rae,
I do the stripping thing about four times a year.
It still requires me to do the almost bi-weekly work.

I'll admit, I might need some professional therapy on this.
But I do like the look of new factory shine blacks.
"See yourself in the shine" blacks is what I mean.
When that level of shine goes away, I break out the rags and waxes and cleaners and asprin when I'm finished.

It's getting a little old.

Sorry for the rant.

[tangentair]

......When that level of shine goes away, I break out the rags and waxes and cleaners and asprin when I'm finished.
It's getting a little old.
Sorry for the rant.

There were several recent posts along these lines, a quick search brought up this thread
and I don't know about "it's getting a little old" but I am and I find there are days and subjects that just seem to bring out the rant in me also.

[Andy26M]

I have the same issue with my 2004 26M. I recently bought a PoliGlow kit and decided to give it a whirl. Up front, I'll say that it really works well and looks awesome, once you succeed in getting it applied correctly.

A few notes and lessons learned:

1) The kit comes with Poli Prep to clean off the old wax and oxidation. BE PREPARED to spend a LOT of time scrubbing until you get the gelcoat to a consistent, grey-black tone as it specifies in the directions. If you don't get the surface really well prepped, then the finish is going to look awful.

2) The directions do not mention this, but the Poli Glow is water-based, so you have to be sure that the boat will not get rained on for at least a day or so after application. The directions make it seem like the stuff cures in 3 minutes, but that is just enough to lay the next coat. Mine got rained on about 6 hours after I put it on, and the next morning it was water spotted and sections of it bubbled up and peeled off in the next day's sun. I had to use the Poli Prep to take the first try back off, and re-apply it on a drier day.

3) The Poli Prep dissolves the Poli Glow coating real quick, so at least cleaning off a botched attempt and prepping for another try is pretty easy.

4) Applying the Poli Glow coating is an acquired skill, it's easy to get the pad too wet or too dry and wind up with streaks in the finish.

5) Once it is on there, it looks beautiful and so far has not shown any signs of wear or fading. It's supposed to be good for 6-12 months. I can confirm that bird droppings simply rinse right off.

Other folks have posted their experiences with Poli Glow or the equivalent product from Island Girl (I think it's called Hawaiian Two-step), search on the forums for these posts.

- Andy

[bastonjock]

hardcrab

modern auto paint come in three stages,firstly there is the primer,then what the eye percieves as the colour,then you apply the clear coat,its the clear coat that gives you the lasting shine

now heres the bad bit,the only clear coat worth using contains issocianates,this stuff is not good for long life,an ordinary mask is not good enough,at the very minimum a dual filter mask that covers gasses and particles is required

you now have me thinking of blowing in my black stripes with a pearlescent black,man that would look wicked

[tangentair]

BastonJock
I tried a bit of auto touch up paint on some gel coat blemishes - you know those little bottles with brushes in the cap - and the stuff would not stick after it dried, would it have worked with primer or does the gel coat have to be removed?

[Hardcrab]

I agree about the looks, but will it last with just normal care?
Or will I be right back to waxing every three weeks?

[bastonjock]

ive done alot of aftermarket body kits for cars that are covered in gel coat,in order to get the paint to stick,i scuff up the area using a fine scotch pad (wet),dry the area, wipe it down with a degeaser and the next stuff comes in a aerosol can,its called plastic primer,then after the plastic primer i use ordinary primer,then the paint

I wish i was more artistic,i can make things and paint things from others i deas to a very high standard,but im useless at design.

im going to take a close look at the boats during the boat show in september,if i see something that i like i might just respray my 2001x,id love to "pimp" my 2001x in a tastefull manner

any arty types out ther got any suggestions,if something grabs me strongly enough,i might just paint the boat in a pearlescent finnish

[bastonjock]

I agree about the looks, but will it last with just normal care?
Or will I be right back to waxing every three weeks?

not with clear coat on it,base coat(colour) and then clear coat.There must be someone in your area that does mobile "smart" automotive repairs ask the guy to quote you or take it to a body shop

getting a top shinney finnish with clear coat takes practice

[Ivan Awfulitch]

We had our '02 X painted in the fall. A place in Port Clinton, OH called Mirror Image painted all the black stripes above the rub rail. Put a single coat of automotive wax on it before putting it in the water in late may, and haven't done anything but a couple cleanings since. Shines better than new. They said it's an automotive paint, but don't remember what they said. They spent almost 3 days prepping the surface before they painted, most of the time spent on the stripe by the windows.

[bastonjock]

I think that i would have to do all of the black stripes bar the rub rail,i fancy a perlescent black with a blue flip to it.You dont think that the blue flip will slow down my faster white hull?

[Hardcrab]

Ivan Awfulitch, (me too)
Your results sound like just what I'm looking for.
Did you repaint it black?
Any signs of fade like the gelcoat does?
If you don't mind me asking, was it very expensive to do?
Did you do the prep work?

Sorry for all the questions, but your story gives me lottsa hope.
Thanks

[rfehon]

Ivan, I need to know how much a job like that went for? What are we willing to spend to get the stripes looking good? I maean there's no stopping the knind of compulsion Hardcrab has, but part of what I love about this boat is the ease of use and lack of expense. Yet I too am curious since it is irritating to see those stripes, particularly around the windows, become so grey.

On this thread, only Ivan has done the car paint thing and had it professionally done, so I am hoping he will tell us his cost. Thanks in advance, Ivan.

Bob