Case Study
“Blue Rose” – 320 Sea Ray Sundancer

Overview

The owner of the 2006 Sea Ray - Sundancer reached to us for a solution to fading and inconsistency in the dark blue color of the hull caused by oxidization and severe water marks. Also, on the sun deck of the boat included non-skid, in which, is challenging to maintain and keep clean.

Model:: Sea Ray - Sundancer
Year:: 2006
Length:: 32'
Location:: Palm Beach Gardens

Challenge

The boat is permanently docked here in South Florida and constantly exposed to the harsh sun and elements. The owner previously completed the boat detailing himself by applying traditional wax that could not hold up to these conditions and caused increased maintenance time. He was looking for professional boat detailing in West Palm Beach.

As a result, throughout the hull of the boat, you could easily see hard water marks in the pores.

Man holding gloss meter with 32.8 reading on blue hull of Sea Ray Sundancer — To measure the degree of luster remaining in the gelcoat a gloss meter was used. This meter reflects light off the surface and captures the result. The gloss readings of 32.8 showed limited shine to the boat because of oxidization and hard water marks on the surface

Starboard of blue hulled Sea Ray Sundancer — In addition, there was rust and other staining on both sides of the hull and top side. The stainless steel engine room vents had rust stains going down both sides of the hull. The hull also had scaling and hard water spots towards the bow.

The Process

We began the Sea Ray gelcoat restoration process by washing the boat with Nano Wash to completely clean and ready for the next step. The second step included using a medium cut compound with a rotary buffer at 900 rpm's to remove oxidization and hard water marks. In various areas throughout the boat, we had to repeat the compound several times to ensure the surface imperfections were properly removed.

The next step in the boat detailing process was to use Nano Polish with a foam pad at low speed. This product is unique because it helps to pull out stains that could not be removed with the cleaners and acids in the washing preparation. It also helped to further restore the shine.

Diagram with four steps to show the entire restoration process including wash & prep, surface restoration, surface preparation and coating application — The Glidecoat Professional Ceramic Coating is a five stage process completed by our certified applicators in a controlled environment. After an initial assessment of the boat, we get started washing and preparing the boat and carefully apply the exclusive line of Glidecoat products. The Professional Coating process completely restores your boat’s surface and offers the ultimate protection available.

Now comes the real transformation.

At this point we used Surface Wipe to wipe off all the areas to be coated. This step removes any further contaminants from the gelcoat and ensures we are working with a clean surface. With the surface now fully prepared and consistent we started the application of our nano coating.

By applying two coats of our liquid crystal, the coating will fill in all of the pores of the surface and after 8 hours of curing time, will create a protective barrier on the hull to prevent oxidization and hard water marks.

Man holding red sponge and silver bottle and a dime size of liquid ceramic coating poured into the middle of the sponge. — A little goes a long way! Surprising to your first time using 9h nano coatings is how a little of product can go a long way. When applying the coating to a 2' by 2' area, you should pour approximately the size of a penny.

Man wearing black glove applying Glidecoat ceramic coating to the blue hull of a 32' Sea Ray Sundancer — Applying Liquid Crystal: During the application process of the liquid crystal, you can clearly see reside on the surface and within 10-15 seconds start to the surface begin to sweat. Simply rub the coating into the surface with a clean microfiber towel and repeat 2-3 times.

The Result

The boat looks better than new!!!"

Owner

Once finished, you could see a tremendous transformation. Glidecoat’s Top Coating Kit, will enhance the boat's gelcoat, bringing back not just the shine, but the color as well and protect the finish going forward for upwards of 18 months without the need for boat wax. In addition, it provides a high degree of UV resistance and makes the surface hydrophobic, so acid rain, fish blood, salt will not be absorbed into the gelcoat, but rinse off with water.