48 Sailing Today August 2011 August 2011 Sailing Today 49

Has your gelcoat become dull and chalky over the years? We put a number of gelcoat restoration products to the test to see if they lived up to their promises. Duncan Kent reports.

group TeST restoring your gelcoAt

restoring your gelCoat

3M • boat buddy • CoLLINItE • ENSEaRCH • FaRECLa • MEGuIaRS • PoLIGLoW • PoRt-N-StaRboaRd • RuPES • StaRbRItE • 3M • boat budd

polish & polishershowever, as the coating can wear/flake off after a while or discolour in bright sunlight. When re-applying, the old coating must first be removed using a specialised stripper, which in some cases is just the cleaning solution supplied with the system.

preparationFirstly – don’t even think of trying to do this with the boat afloat. Polish out the odd mark or two maybe, but there’s no way you’ll do a proper job with the boat moving about. Besides, you’d only be able to do it by hand, because the proximity of the water would preclude the use of any power tools.

Make sure you have good access all around the boat with enough space to move around with the polishing machine. If you do it inside you’ll also need to ensure you have reasonable ventilation, as many of the products are still solvent based and can make you dizzy, ill and give you a massive headache.

Wear some good gloves and goggles as well – an eyeful of polish hurts (been there and done it) and it won’t take long for hands that aren’t used to using a heavy polisher to become blistered and very sore.

Get yourself a few microfibre polishing cloths as well for the finishing touches and the areas where you can’t get the orbital buffer into.

Lastly, make sure you have really good lighting, or it’ll be difficult to make out where you’ve been and where not.

Cleaning the topsidesIf your chosen restoration system doesn’t have a pre-wash solution, then find one that is suitable or simply use a strong detergent solution and rinse it off thoroughly with a hose. Use a soft sponge or cloth to avoid making any more scratch marks. Once the hull is dry, you will need to degrease the gelcoat, unless the cleaning product also contained a degreasing agent of some sort.

Most boats pick up a few really stubborn stains – rust being the most common. These can often be removed using specialist products, commonly containing acetone or similar strong solvents such as methyl ethyl

ketone (MEK), or simply by applying a coarse rubbing compound, either in powder or liquid form.

Cleaning and de-waxingSome brands provide several liquid components in their system. These start with quite a coarse abrading ingredient, gradually reducing through the subsequent steps, until the final stage, which has only a very fine abrasive content.

If you’re planning to start again from scratch (excuse the pun), you’ll need to

remove any old remaining wax as well. Some ‘Stage 1’ products contain a de-waxing component such as toluene to help remove any vestiges of old coatings, but if not you’ll need to make sure all traces of old wax are removed somehow.

polishingThis is the second stage of a multi-part solution and can either be a liquid or solid wax product that is hand or machine applied. Some products recommend hand application only (they overheat if an electric buffer is used); others are fine to apply by machine. In our tests we tried both, but mainly concentrated on those that can be applied by machine.

In some ways, polishing is a misnomer in that you are not actually applying a coating, but rather abrading the surface with ever reducing coarseness of compound, to smooth out a pitted or scratched surface.

After polishing, you should apply a coat of wax to protect the surface and improve the gloss, although some polishing products

ph

ot

os

st

ew

ar

t w

he

el

er

A ll topside gelcoats become dull and chalky or hazy after a time – particularly dark coloured ones. Some

can be brought back up to a deep shine with just a brisk application of wax polish and some elbow grease, but others that have been left too long will most likely need the full cleanse, restore and polish treatment.

What is gelcoat?Gelcoat is simply another resin product, which is designed to protect the underlying GRP lay-up and to look good. It has a wax coating when new that, unless regularly cleaned and polished, will dull over and lose its natural sheen. Sometimes washing or polishing your topsides without first removing any chemical residues, grit, salt etc can do more harm than good, so that you can end

up with hundreds of very fine scratch marks all over the hull.

For this reason many of the gelcoat restoration ‘systems’ recommend first washing the topsides thoroughly with a special cleaning product that contains ingredients to break down any grease, fuel or other contaminants that might stop any polishes from doing their job properly.

Wax or seal?We found there were two distinctly different products available for restoring and protecting your gelcoat. The first, a ‘wax finish’, is achieved by using gradually reducing abrasive solutions to deftly grind out scratches and bring up the original colour, followed by a wax-based polish that forms an outer ‘crust’ that protects the gelcoat from

salt, dirt etc. This is undoubtedly hard work, but will last a good while and does allow you to touch up dull or dirty areas of the hull throughout the season.

The second type we tried was a ‘clean and seal’ method, in which the topsides were deep-cleaned and washed off thoroughly, before applying a varnish-type acrylic coating to seal in the clean gelcoat and provide a shiny, waterproof outer surface. This is certainly a quicker method and unquestionably requires far less effort than a wax polish finish, being usually applied by hand using a paint pad or special applicator. Several coats are required to build up the requisite film thickness, but because the solution dries very quickly, they can often be done one after the other.

This type of finish is not guaranteed for life,

what a difference! polished, left, and un

polished, right. Below: If you can’t take a reflective

photo like this after polishing your gelcoat,

then you probably need a cutting polish system.

Check the polish for grain (below), if it

has no grain it won’t cut, and can be

applied by hand.

Many thanks to the owner of our test boat , Mike, who

talks polish with aaron.

48 Sailing Today August 2011

50 Sailing Today August 2011 August 2011 Sailing Today 51

although 3M produces a huge range of abrading and polishing products for both marine and automotive use, we were recommended the following three products for bringing our dull, oxidised gelcoat back up to tip-top condition:

Marine Imperial Compound – used for the first stage to remove heavy oxidation.

Finesse-it Finishing Material – a less aggressive, finer abrading compound/polish.

Marine Liquid Wax – a final UV-resistant, waterproof wax

coating to protect the finish.

Our boat care specialist, Aaron, who was applying the treatments on our behalf said that he very often used 3M products as they were always reliable and were pretty much guaranteed to produce an excellent finish. He liked the Imperial Compound, although he warned that one should be very careful not to lean too heavily on the polisher or you risk putting deep swirl marks in the gelcoat. This

is not a product you would use on painted surfaces as it is too coarse.

The second stage was using the Finesse-It finishing material, which, though also abrasive, is a much finer liquid – easier to apply and great for gently polishing out any swirl marks from overenthusiastic application of

stage one. Aaron used

the liquid sparingly and said it was one of the easier compounds to apply by machine, even for amateurs. It can also be used for paintwork, either by hand or without too much pressure on the polishing machine.

Finally, he used the Liquid Wax to protect the finish and keep out harmful UV rays. Gently applied, then buffed, it left the surface looking well replenished and nicely shiny. Thoroughly pleasing to the eye.

Verdict: 9/10This is a well respected range of treatments from a trusted manufacturer – does exactly what you’d expect from such a product.

actually include wax as well in the final stage.

WaxWith new or relatively new boats you can greatly extend the life of the gelcoat by rewaxing it annually. Application instructions vary among brands, but in general you apply the wax with a cloth or foam pad using a circular motion, leaving it to dry to a haze. Then buff away the excess with a soft microfibre polishing cloth or an electric buffing machine with a soft, sheep’s wool buffing pad.

Polish only until the surface starts to shine again – too long and you will remove too much of the protective wax coating. Any remaining wax will fill microscopic pits and scratches in the gelcoat and provide a new, smooth surface.

By hand or machine?If your topsides are dire and need the full treatment, you’ll probably want to use a proper polishing machine rather than struggle to do it all by hand. Some systems have up to four different stages that need to be

applied one after the other, which is beyond most people’s hand application abilities – certainly mine!

Electric polishers operate at relatively slow speeds, so using a disk sander or drill is not a viable option, unless it is a dual purpose device with a slow speed gear.

Along with the 10 different polishing systems, we tried out a wide selection of polishing machines as well, just to see which were the most user friendly. The care products we were testing were applied by

professional boat care specialist, Aaron, of Small Boat Services, who spends most of his time restoring gelcoats to their original state, so we left it to him to decide which polisher would be the most useful to a DIY-er as well as the professional.

TestsWe used three different boats for the trials – two with white gelcoat and one blue. The hull was divided into strips with masking tape to delineate

between the various different treatments and photographs taken to identify which strip had which products applied.

The results reported here are the preliminary results only, but the boats will be monitored over the 2011 season and inspected again towards the end of the year, when we will give our final verdicts on the performance of each system over time and the condition of each strip of the hull after a sailing season.

group TeST

3M • boat buddy • CoLLINItE • ENSEaRCH • FaRECLa • MEGuIaRS • PoLIGLoW • PoRt-N-StaRboaRd • RuPES • StaRbRItE • 3M • boat budd

product tests3M

the slightly gimmicky, americanised name doesn’t particularly inspire confidence in the product, which is a shame because our results were pretty good. the product comes in a kit containing three bottles:

Marine Surface Wash – removes grease, oil, moss, salt and general light stains.

Marine Surface Cleaner – a more serious cleaner to remove stubborn stains, such as rust.

Marine Surface Protector – the final product designed to seal in the finish.

The first stage is a fairly straightforward washing product, which I have to say did a very good job of cleaning a boat that had been left untouched for six months or more. The liquid is a 50:1 concentrate, so it should last a good while. I wondered if Stage 2 would be worthwhile, being as it was now so clean, but the instructions insist you follow the recommended procedure to the letter, so that’s what I did. The second stage simply requires you to ‘paint on’ the product and sit back with the newspaper for 20 minutes.

In fact the Surface Cleaner did indeed get even more of the gunge off, including the sooty/greasy streaks below the exhaust, leaving it pretty much spotlessly white, but dull. It has the consistency of paint stripper – and smells a bit like it too – so one wonders how it manages to go under the labels of ‘environmentally responsible’ and ‘biodegradable’. However, the blurb insists it contains no oxalic acid or other nasties, so maybe this is indeed true.

Finally, Stage 3 is the polish and seal step, using bottle No.3, the Surface Protector. It is applied by hand using a microfibre polishing cloth, but having done all the cleaning in Stages 1 and 2, applying the polish/sealer was fairly effortless and a smart shine soon appeared. The shine settled down to a slightly more satin finish after a few days, but running your fingers over it you can feel it is doing its job.

Verdict: 6/10The Boat Buddy cleaning kit is a three-stage ‘system’, the instructions for which must be followed carefully. Unlike the more common compound/polish systems, whereby you apply ever finer abrasive compounds to bring back the colour and shine to the gelcoat, this system is designed for the least amount of elbow grease.

The cleaning products proved to be very good at getting rid of all the grime and stains, and left the gelcoat matt white ready for waxing/sealing. I suppose the lack of a deep, lasting wax shine lets it down just a little, however, in the long run.

BoAt BuddY

aaron and a rupes polisher make quick work of the art editor’s Centaur.

Collinite polishing products have been around for a very long time and have a good reputation amongst the professionals. a selection of products, although no specifically recommended ‘system’ so to speak.

Fiberglass Boat Cleaner – a non-abrasive boat cleaner for removing dirt, oil, grease, oxidation, rust and exhaust stains, and restoring the original colour.

Fiberglass Boat Wax – a wax polish containing high quality Carnauba wax formula for protection against scuffing, dirt, saltwater and UV rays.

Heavy Duty Liquid Fleetwax – a single use product for gelcoats already in relatively good condition. This product is designed to clean and protect in one go.

Heavy Duty Paste Fleetwax – a heavy wax product for hand application.

These products are really intended for application by hand, which is what we did – alongside those done by the polishing machine. We decided the first two went well, one after the other, so we did one half of the blue transom using these and the other half using just the Liquid Fleetwax.

The first product had little or no abrasive in it, so I would imagine it is intended for use on gelcoat that is in pretty good condition. For this reason it didn’t remove any of the deep haze on our test boat, but it

did give a really good shine. The Boat Wax was really easy to apply when compared with many of the other pure wax products.

The Liquid Fleetwax does have a small amount of very fine abrading compound in it, meaning it did a slightly better job of tackling our grotty boat. It removed chalkiness with a good rub and gave almost as good

a shine as the Boat Wax, but you’d need a more abrasive compound for tough jobs. We felt the Boat Wax alone to be a great final coat to many of the other products.

Verdict 7/10Good for boats with gelcoat in reasonable condition, but not abrasive enough for the

worst oxidisation jobs. Both the Fleetwax products were

excellent, though, giving a great shine and very likely to give all year protection.

coLLiNite

restoring your gelcoAt

RECOMMENDED

PREMIUMPRODUCT

HIGHLYRECOMMENDED

FIRST LOOKBEST BUY

UPDATEBUDGET BUY

UPDATE

although recently acquired by 3M, Meguiars continues to produce its own distinctive products, although these are slightly more orientated towards the car/caravan market.

although the Meguiars products were not specifically marketed as a ‘system’, we tried three of their products consecutively, in a logical order. they

were as follows:

oxidation remover – a heavy duty cleaner for removing all stains and scuffs.

high Gloss polish – slightly abrasive polishing liquid to restore and revive gelcoat.

pure wax – blend of Brazilian carnauba wax for ultimate protection and shine.

The first product worked well, in fact Aaron suggested that it might even be slightly too abrasive for amateur use with a machine, in

Specialising in biodegradable, eco-friendly cleaning products, Ensearch produces a variety of useful products for restoring and maintaining topside gelcoat including:

all-over Boat Cleaner – a general concentrated boat wash containing biodegradable detergents.

Fibreglass hull Cleaner – use neat to remove the more stubborn grime, oil and rust stains.

Boat shine & protect – contains no abrasives, is silicone free and dries completely clear.

Initially, we didn’t have all the Ensearch products to test – in fact the one we did,

bio-degradable Boat Shine & Protect, had been on the shelf for a while waiting for someone to try it out. The bio-degradable Boat Shine & Protect is a new, high specification finish protector for gelcoats and is manufactured from pure carnauba wax (one of the hardest waxes available), blended with acrylic co-polymer for extra durability. It is not just a polish or a wax, but a protective layer that gives a lasting shine.

Both the cleaning products turned up later and were tested on my grubby old Jaguar. The washes and cleaners proved to be good, but not extra special. The All-Over Wash did a good job of removing the grime from my cockpit and the Hull Cleaner got rid of every stain bar one – a stubborn, deep rust stain from a corroded deck fitting. It does advise more than one coat for stubborn stains.

Verdict 7/10Primarily intended for care to newish topsides, we were surprised at just how good the Shine & Protect was – despite being a ‘one bottle’ solution. After all, we tested it on an old, scratched and faded gelcoat, rather than new, and it still managed to give it a top-class shine – despite containing no abrasives.

This looks to be an excellent product for gelcoat care on new or fairly new boats and is also ideal for thinner painted surfaces, due to its lack of abrasive compounds.

group TeST

3M • boat buddy • CoLLINItE • ENSEaRCH • FaRECLa • MEGuIaRS • PoLIGLoW • PoRt-N-StaRboaRd • RuPES • StaRbRItE • 3M • boat budd

the Farécla brand of professional quality abrasive cutting compounds was first launched in 1953. Best known for its ‘G3’ brand, Farécla has taken its widespread success and technical expertise in the automotive refinishing trade and applied it to the boating industry, giving us a superb 4-stage clean/restore/polish system under its Marine professional brand. products include:

Deep Clean Wash – detergent-based deep clean washing fluid.

Rapid Stain Remover – acid-based stain remover for stubborn stains.

Surface Restorer – water-based abrasive compound for reviving gelcoat.

Ultimate UV Wax Polish – UV-proof, Carnauba-based wax polish.

The deep clean wash seemed to work well and removed almost all the staining from an old boat that had been in the yard for many years, but not the serious scuff mark where another boat had clearly run down the sides. However, Stage 2, the stain remover made short work of this and some other nasty rust stains alongside the genoa tracks. Stages 3 and 4 we tested using a polisher on our ‘striped’ blue hull. Aaron liked the product, which he reckoned was light enough to apply by hand.

Verdict 8/10While the wash was good, but no better than many of the other products, the cleaner was one of the best. The abrasive restorer also did a brilliant job of removing old scratch marks and oxidisation from the topsides of the dark hull, and the final wax polish was one of the few that looked just as shiny a week later. An excellent all-round product.

FArÉcLA

MeGuiArs

Unlike the wax-based polishes we tested, poliglow leaves a thin acrylic film over the surface to seal in the previously cleaned gelcoat. poliglow is supplied as a two-stage kit, containing:

poliprep – a wash and clean solution using Poliprep diluted with water.

poliglow – a ‘shine and seal’ one-part neat solution.

The first stage, Polyprep cleaning solution was very effective at removing the dirt and stains, without the need to resort to the optional bottle of Polyox – a powder cutting compound available for really stubborn stains like rust etc.

Stage two requires the Poliglow sealant to be ‘painted’ on using the applicator (a chamois-leather covered sponge) supplied. Up to six coats are needed with a waiting time

of around five minutes between coats – depending on the ambient temperature.

Verdict 7/10The results were good and it left an excellent shine. How long it will last we can only tell after leaving it on for the season, but it looks pretty durable. Our pro, Aaron, mentioned that he’d seen something similar applied to a dark red hull, which had continued to degrade/fade from UV exposure beneath the ‘seal’, although it never went chalky and retained its shine.

We also discovered sometime later that it has excellent non-slip properties – especially when compared

to other wax finishes and particularly when wet – so it is ideal

for use on sloping edges of the coachroof as well.

poLiGLoW

eNseArcH

a good selection of boat care products from this company, including a two-part gelcoat restoration system and several other polish and wax products to give future protection from the elements. we used the following:

Gel Bright restorer (pt1) – abrasive liquid compound for cleaning/restoring chalky

gelcoat.

Gel Bright sealant (pt2) – sealant product to stop further oxidation.

Gelcoat high Gloss polish – a slightly abrasive polishing product for a deep shine.

Gelcoat Deep shine wax – a carnauba wax finish for the ultimate long life protection.

We first tried just the restorer and sealant using a gentle action with the polishing machine. Aaron felt the restorer was too fine and not abrasive enough for our badly oxidised dark blue gelcoat. We applied the sealant by hand and buffed it up when dry with the polisher. The finish was fairly poor,

port-N-stArBoArd

case they overdid it and wore away too much of the surface or put large weals into it. However, I tried it by hand on a small area of my own boat and it worked very well, although you definitely need to use a wax polish after as it leaves the surface quite matt and therefore rather absorbent.

The polish wasn’t so good and Aaron felt we needed another stage with a finer grade abrasive to smooth out any marks left over from the initial cleaning compound, before using the polish. The pure wax was easy to

apply, but once again wasn’t able to improve on the first stages – other than to give it a healthy shine.

Verdict 6/10Meguiars also market a one-step cleaner wax that is designed to be used as a one-

off product on reasonably good condition gelcoat. It worked well when I tried it by hand on the coachroof of my own boat, so I’m not sure why it doesn’t develop something similar to come between its heavy duty cleaner and the polish. On newish gelcoat, however, these three products would probably be up with the best, as its wax solution was better than many when we tried it on its own on a three year old boat.

restoring your gelcoAt

Very grippy, even when wet.

american made products that appear prolifically in most UK chandlers, starbrite has a huge range of boat care products for the amateur boat owner. we selected four that we thought would be ideal for our restoration job, they were:

liquid rubbing Compound – a coarse rubbing compound for removing heavy oxidation.Fiberglass Color restorer & sealer – a fine abrasive compound. Marine polish – a general all-round glassfibre boat polish.premium Marine polish – a superior gelcoat polish with an added PTFE barrier

coating.

The rubbing compound was very fine (and smelt of hospital floors) and wasn’t up to the job of restoring the colour to our faded gelcoat and the gelcoat restorer fared even worse. They might be fine for painted topsides, but are not aggressive enough for gelcoat reinvigoration. Both polishes buffed

up to a reasonable shine initially, but sadly this didn’t seem to last very long.

Verdict 3/10We would put these products in the amateur DIY category and all of us felt they were really automotive or caravan products rather than serious gelcoat treatments. Whilst they might well be fine for newish boats, they performed poorly on our ‘project’ boat and little better on newer surfaces. Even the shine we managed to achieve with the Premium polish

and electric buffer soon faded after a few days in the open air.

July 2011 Sailing Today 55

group TeST restoring your gelcoAt

3M • boat buddy • CoLLINItE • ENSEaRCH • FaRECLa • MEGuIaRS • PoLIGLoW • PoRt-N-StaRboaRd • RuPES • StaRbRItE • 3M • boat budd

supplied by rupes – renowned specialists in polishing machines and other power tools. the system has four stages, which are simply decreasing degrees of abrasive polishing compounds.

stage 1 – Zephyr (Coarse)stage 2 – Quarz Gloss (Medium)stage 3 – Keramik Gloss (Fine)stage 4 – Diamond Gloss (Ultra-fine)

When used with the electric polishing machine, these polishes produced an excellent finish – the best of any, but at the expense of a lot of hard work. Judging by the sweat that built up on Aaron’s brow during the trials, you really wouldn’t want to try applying these products by hand. What it

lacks, however, is a good sealant or wax polish to preserve that hard-earned shine and to protect the surface from UV rays and other contaminants.

Verdict 9/10These products were the surprise of the day – clearly the polishing machine manufacturers know a thing or two about polish as well. If they were to add a wax sealant to the system, it would be just about perfect – provided you use a machine.

rupes

stArBrite

poLisHers product tests

MAkitA 9227cB £206Bulkier than some, but is quite ‘torquey’ and does a good job with minimum effort. Has a handy locking trigger system.Verdict: 8/10Contact: www.powertoolsalesuk.com

FeiN Wpo14-25e £299Quite a short, compact polisher that is useful in small spaces, but it is noisy. Has a similar locking trigger to the Makita.Verdict: 7/10Contact: www.powertoolsalesuk.com

MiLWAukee H/d Ap12e £168Good for superstructure, because it is light and manageable, but the ‘always on’ style switch is not ideal if you want to switch it off in a hurry.Verdict: 7/10Contact: www.powertoolsalesuk.com

rupes LH18eN £185 The best all-rounder, this was light and compact, its dual-gear system meant the power was always available without needing to rev it too high.Verdict: 9/10Contact: www.powertoolsalesuk.com

rupes LH22eN £276A heavier machine with a less powerful motor than the LH18EN and single gearing only. Too slow when pushed hard and rather too bulky for continuous use.Verdict: 6/10Contact: www.powertoolsalesuk.com

3M eLectric rotArY poLisHer £199Not really enough torque available for a professional, but might be okay for an amateur who is not pushing it too hard or using it that often.Verdict: 5/10Contact: www.3mselect.co.uk

sHurHoLd duAL ActioN poLisHer £165The only ‘Random Orbital’ type polisher we tested. Designed really for the amateur, this machine can be used for sanding as well and its random motion avoids the danger of creating ‘weals’ (circular marks) on the surface.Verdict: 4/10Contact: www.shurhold.com

Not everybody will feel the need to buy an electric polisher, especially one that a professional might use, but we tried several different ones out during our trials and thought you might like us to pass on our verdict all the same.All the polishing was carried out by boat care specialist, Aaron Logan of Small Boat Services, Hayling Island, whose professional opinion we publish below.Note ~ Prices are approximate and will depend on where purchased.

and you could clearly see the chalkiness under the shiny surface.

We then tried the high gloss polish, which on its own seemed to perform better than the first two products and left a good deep shine. The deep shine wax didn’t make it much shinier, but you could certainly feel the

wax ‘coating’ as you ran your fingers over it and it still looks good now – some two weeks later.

Verdict 5/10While I think the products are ideally suited to application by hand for the amateur, I

can’t help feeling the system would benefit from a coarser abrasive compound before the Restorer, effectively making it into a three stage system.

The Deep Shine wax polish looked much better when applied to a more extensively polished surface.

RECOMMENDED

PREMIUMPRODUCT

HIGHLYRECOMMENDED

FIRST LOOKBEST BUY

UPDATEBUDGET BUY

UPDATE

RECOMMENDED

PREMIUMPRODUCT

HIGHLYRECOMMENDED

FIRST LOOKBEST BUY

UPDATEBUDGET BUY

UPDATE

RECOMMENDED

PREMIUMPRODUCT

HIGHLYRECOMMENDED

FIRST LOOKBEST BUY

UPDATEBUDGET BUY

UPDATE

Hayling Yacht CompanyThanks go to Hayling Yacht Company for again lettting us use their yard for testing purposes. Based on the edges of the idyllic Chichester Harbour they have built, repaired and maintained boats for 70 years and have recently added 41 new pontoon berths to this family run boatyard. Call Richard for more information and prices

tel 02392 463592 www.haylingyacht.co.uk

email: info@ haylingyacht.co.uk

Power Tool Sales UKMany thanks to Matt Treviss and Clive Clifford-Smith at Power Tool Sales who supplied and sourced many of the polishers, and tested the vibration levels of them all during the testing. Power Tool Sales can service and repair almost any power tool make; well worth it when you think overheating units are often due to worn brushes and badly vibrating tools can lead to white finger – permenant damage to the nerve endings. Contact them for more info:tel 02380 315 316 www.powertoolsalesuk.com email sales@powertoolsalesuk.com

56 Sailing Today July 2011July 2011 Sailing Today 57

group TeST restoring your gelcoAt

3M • boat buddy • CoLLINItE • ENSEaRCH • FaRECLa • MEGuIaRS • PoLIGLoW • PoRt-N-StaRboaRd • RuPES • StaRbRItE • 3M • boat budd

coNcLusioNs If there’s one thing we learnt from this test, it’s the value of a polish. It’s ironic that people seem to religiously antifoul their boats every year, but are often unwilling to spend a bit extra on keeping their topsides in shape. The topsides on the blue boat we polished here were almost beyond rescue, due to a previous owner’s lack of care over the years, yet a little spit and polish will not only keep your boat looking smart, it will also help her

to retain her residual value. This is really just the beginning of the test;

the real results will be seen in six months and a year’s time when we get to see how these polishes have lasted when exposed to the elements.

It is telling that some of the gleam had faded after only a week with some of the products tested. Fear not, we will be giving regular updates over the coming months.

Make product Job Qty price Dealer tel web3M Marine Imperial Compound Abrade 950ml £34.99 Various – see website 0845 604 3697 www.3mselect.co.uk

3M Finesse-it Finishing polish Polish 500ml £15.79

3M scotchgard Marine liquid wax Polish 500ml £18.34

Boat Buddy surface wash Clean 1ltr £17.00 Shipshape Boats Ltd 0800 0488 863 www.shipshapeboats.co.uk

Boat Buddy surface Cleaner Restore 1ltr £22.00 3-stage kit £55

Boat Buddy surface protector Seal 1ltr £22.00

Collinite Fiberglass Boat Cleaner Clean 473ml £11.75 Shipshape Norfolk 01353 676007 www.shipshapenorfolkltd.co.uk

Collinite heavy Duty liquid Fleetwax Clean/Polish 473ml £19.99

Collinite Fiberglass Boat wax Polish 473ml/1,892ml £19.25/£69.10

Collinite heavy Duty paste Fleetwax Polish 12oz tin £21.49

ensearch all over Boat Cleaner Clean 1ltr £16.49 Ensearch Ltd 01603 620755 www.ensearch.co.uk

ensearch Fibreglass hull Cleaner Clean 1ltr £22.94

ensearch Boat shine & protect Clean/Polish 500ml £21.14

Farécla professional Deep Clean wash Wash 500ml £9.99 Various - see website 01920 465041 www.farecla.com

Farécla professional rapid stain remover Clean 500ml £12.99

Farécla professional surface restorer Restore/Abrade 500ml £13.99

Farécla professional Ultimate UV wax polish Polish 500ml £15.99

Meguiars oxidation remover Clean/Abrade 500ml £10.20 Meguiars UK Ltd 0870 241 6696 www.meguiars.co.uk

Meguiars high Gloss polish Clean/Abrade 500ml £10.20

Meguiars pure wax Polish 500ml £12.25

Meguiars one-step Cleaner wax Clean/Polish 500ml £12.25

poliglow poli ox Cleansing powder Clean/Abrade 567gm £14.95 Cooks Maritime Craftsmen 01590 675521 www.poliglow.co.uk

poliglow polyprep Clean/Restore 910ml £18.95 2-stage kit £64.95

poliglow poliglow Seal 910ml £38.95

port-n-starboard Gel Bright restorer Abrade/Restore 500ml/1ltr £13.99/£19.95 Port-n-Starboard 0845 330 0805 www.port-n-starboard.com

port-n-starboard Gel Bright sealant Seal/Protect 500ml/1ltr £13.99/£19.95

port-n-starboard Gelcoat high Gloss polish Polish 500ml/1ltr £13.99/£19.95

port-n-starboard Gelcoat Deep shine wax Polish/Protect 500ml/1ltr £13.99/£19.95

port-n-starboard Gelcoat Fast wax Polish/Protect 500ml/1ltr £13.99/£19.95

rupes Zephyr (Coarse) Abrade/Restore 1ltr £28.99 Power Tool Sales 023 8031 5316 www.powertoolsalesuk.com

rupes Quarz Gloss (Medium) Abrade/Polish 1ltr £22.99

rupes Keramik Gloss (Fine) Abrade/Polish 500ml/1ltr £11.99/£22.99

rupes Diamond Gloss (Ultra-fine) Polish 500ml/1ltr £15.99/£22.99

starbrite liquid rubbing Compound Restore 500ml £12.95 Various chandlers n/a www.starbrite-europe.com

starbrite Colour restorer & sealer Restore/Seal 500ml £14.95

starbrite Marine polish Polish 500ml £14.95

starbrite premium Marine polish Polish 500ml £21.95

Make Model weight pad dia power Gears speeds soft start

3M ERP 1.9kg 125mm 1,100W 1 700-1,850 rpm Y

Fein WPO 14-25E 2.5kg 230mm 1,200W 2 900-2,500 rpm Y

Makita 9227CB 3.0kg 180mm 1,200W 1 600-3,000 rpm Y

Milwaukee AP12E 2.2kg 150mm 1,200W 1 900-2,500 rpm Y

rupes LH18EN 2.0kg 200mm 1,100W 2 700-1,700 rpm Y

rupes LH22EN 3.3kg 200mm 1,020W 1 950-2,000 rpm Y

shurhold Dual-Action 2.2kg 150mm 500W 1 2,500-6,500 rpm N

WitH tHANks

Small Boat ServicesAaron Logon, who runs Small Boat Services, spent his day polishing two boats for us, using seven different machines and 10 systems. He has over 15 years’ experience in boat repairs and maintenance and is a qualified 3M Gel Care technician. tel 07765 433180 www.smallboatservices.co.uk

3M glasses look good and are very necessary, as aaron shows us here.

Vibration Testing Vibration from tools can cause perminant damage to your hands and there are now legal requirements in place to protect people.

For vibration levels of the tools tested on the day and more info, please visit www.powertoolsalesuk.com