Red Gell Oxidation problem

[silverghost]

I have an 1988 with red gelcoat.
This spring I compounded the hull sides with 3M super duty machine compound and a lambswool bonnet on an air buffer. Finished up with 3M Finesse-it II .
Waxed it with three coats of Meguiar's Flagship premium Marine wax.
I spent three days on this process!
The red boat then looked like a brand new fire engine~WOW!
Boat was launched in mid-May and just pulled at the end of September.
It spent all summer in the water in my Ocean City NJ boatslip.
The port side facing the most sun exposure is now a severly cloudy pink oxidized mess!
I re-Waxed mid Summer~
I always hose down the boat after each use.
It's almost impossible to re-wax during the summer from my boatslip deck & ladder.
Each year this situation gets worse as the boat ages.
It deteriorates faster~
I knew a red boat would be a problem going in when I bought it new.
It is now getting way out of hand!
What can I do to prevent this oxidation?
Is there a better product than this wax?
I have tried 3M marine wax with Silicone~ similar results!
Any thoughts or better ideas here?
Help!

[mrfixxall]

try rebuffing with this stuff,1000 followed by 2000, this chit works wonders...i would wet sand it and follow up with this buffing compound..

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=6352&BASE#

[Trueser]

I have an 1988 with red gelcoat.
This spring I compounded the hull sides with 3M super duty machine compound and a lambswool bonnet on an air buffer. Finished up with Finesse-it II .
Waxed it with three coats of Meguiar's Flagship premium Marine wax.
I spent three days on this process!
The red boat then looked like a brand new fire engine~WOW!
Boat was launched in mid-May and just pulled at the end of September.
It spent all summer in the water in my OCean City NJ boatslip.
The port side facing the most sun exposure is now a severly cloudy pink oxidized mess!
I re-Waxed mid Summer~
I always hose down the boat after each use.
It's almost impossible to re-wax during the summer from my boatslip deck & ladder.
Each year this situation gets worse as the boat ages.
It deteriorates faster~
I knew a red boat would be a problem going in when I bought it new.
It is now getting way out of hand!
What can I do to prevent this oxidation?
Is there a better product than this wax?
I have tried 3M marine wax with Silicone~ similar results!
Any thoughts or better ideas here?
Help!

Buy a full cover that covers the sides! The only way to stop it.

[mike o]

I have build hundreds of red gel coated boats (canoes) in 30 yrs. They all fade even tho I pay extra for an UV inhabitor's to be add to the gel when the the stuff is cooked. The inhabitor gives it more tread live ...so to speak. The problem with red is there are more double chemical bonds in the red pigments that break down easily with UV compared to other pigments. So when you sand off all the oxidation and the color appears to be like new. That new looking gel is still compromised and has been weakened including the perfect appearing substrate below, and it doesn't take must to make the gel start failing. So you have to put a UV blocking material type product it....Like protectant 303, which is an insoluble sun screen, at all times to absorb the UV.

[Rodger]

Like Trueser said...cover the sides. My 22 sits on a shore station all summer. I don't have a custom made cover. I have a universal sport boat type cover but I buy one for a 25' boat with a 8.5' beam. This allows me to pull the cover out to the drive at the rear. I then bungie cord it, on the sides at an angle like an awning, to the lift. The sun doesn't hit the sides or transom.

[gcarter]

Red sux!
Ya gotta keep them inside or covered.

[MOP]

Like mentioned above covering is the only real answer, when you wet sand or heavily compound gel cost you break the surface. When gel coats surface is broken by sanding or heavy compounding it becomes porous, this is easily seen on older boats by the very fine white flecks in colored surfaces from the embedded wax. The only way to retard not stop is to re-coat the surface with a clear coating, even then covering is still important.

[Tony]

Waxing, and even buffing using compounds, is a short term fix that essentially "masks" the underlying problem. The long term fix is to do the entire wet-sanding process to truly restore your color, then use a polish with UV protection, and then keep it covered best you can.

If you have an extra 2 or 3 hours on your hands read the original old OSO thread about Donnie Fulmer's Leverage products. It is pretty informative, as he makes the case for his polish and, at the same time, explains that waxes all contain carnuba oil which leaves a film buildup that yellows with time. He is more elaborate than that, of course, but it made good sense to me.

Trueser has experience with older red boats and he once told me that "you wax paint, and you polish gel". My boat looks real good 4 years after aggressively wet-sanding/buffing, and then using Leverage polish - applied only once per season.

Good luck and keep us posted!

:beer:

[smokediver]

I don't buy into carnuba wax yellowing .. I owned my 16 for about 10 years , carnuba waxed the heck out of it and it was not yellow ! Turtle Wax works just as good as anything as far as wax goes ... just my 2 cents:yes:

[Pismo]

The only real answer is to paint it and be done. Otherwise you are fighting a losing uphill battle for years. Good hard PPG or Imron type paint with excellent prep work.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

The only real answer is to paint it and be done. Otherwise you are fighting a losing uphill battle for years. Good hard PPG or Imron type paint with excellent prep work.

I will second this as the only realistically good way to solve the fading issue. You can only wet sand and buff so many times before it needs to be gelcoated or painted. It is not much more work involved to paint the boat than it is to wet sand, buff, and apply wax anyway - then you are done. Bill

[FISHIN SUCKS]

While there are some good suggestions above, and I have done some of them (1000, 2000, cover, wax all the time), the best thing I ever did was get drunk:drunk:, go on ebay, and be high bidder on a white boat:yes:! I chased my tail for 6 years on a '91 Blackwidow and I finally got off the crazy merry-go-round of waxing the boat, get it looking great, thinkin' I should sell her WHILE she looks good, and then somebody comes by and gives me a compliment about how great she looks. Then I think, 'well, maybe I'll keep her'. Nuts to that, got me a white boat and I never looked back. Good luck in your decision, I'm happy with mine:kingme:!

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Wetsand, clear Imron...

This is always a viable alternative if your gelcoat is in good enough shape (many times it is not). I have cleared quite a few boats over the years with Imron 500S (clear) with no problems. Bill

[Pismo]

I thought about the clearcoat option. Get the gel looking perfect then quickly isolate it from the oxygen will clear coat. Clear coats always seem so soft tho. You can press your fingernail right into the clear coat on so many cars. It scratches so easily it seems. Does someone make a clearcoat that can withstand a bumper rubbing on it all day?