Vincent purchased his 2016 37' Grady White from the Carolina's and upon taking delivery he wanted to restore the used boat back to better than factory new condition.
As you will note in the before photos below, the boat needed some TLC to get rid of the oxidization in the gel coat, remove the black stains through the top side, hull and most importantly clean up the highly sun exposed areas.
Ceramic coatings are gaining in popularity. In part, because used boat owners such as Vincent, recognize that with the proper preparation and a ceramic coating application, they can achieve better than factory new shine and gloss.
And, a major advantage for Vincent, was he knew from his prior boat ownership experience, the traditional wax approach wouldn't work here in the harsh South Florida conditions.
- Boat Brand:
- Grady White
- Length Overall:
- 37'
- Model:
- Freedom 375 Dual Console
- Ceramic Coating To:
- Hull (waterline & up), Transom, Top of the T-Top, Navigational Domes, All of the flat fiberglass on the top side, non-skid along the gunwales, all vinyl cushions and metal
- Completion Time:
- 95 hours
- Location:
- Palm Beach Gardens, FL
To get the best results to restore a used boat is the level of preparation to bring the surface back. During our initial walk through with Vincent, he was looking for a ceramic coating to be applied to the entire boat.
The primary areas we typically recommend for boat owners when restoring a used boat is the highly sun exposed sections. For instance, the Top of the T-Top and the brow on the forward section showed significant sun damage.
As you will note in the photo above, the brow has no shine to the surface and major signs of oxidization. By using our gloss meter to measure the reflection of the shine on the surface, we had a readings as low as 12.
Typically, new gel coat will have gloss meter readings of 82 - 88. Even though the boat was only a few years old, the surface had significant sun damage and would require several prep steps in order to bring the surface back before applying the ceramic coating.
Steps To Restore Used Boat
In order to properly prepare and restore the used boats surface before applying our ceramic coating, you follow the same principles by making the surface shine as best as possible before the ceramic coating application.
Considering various sections on the boat are exposed to harsher conditions, areas will require more steps than others. For instance, the brow, side gunwales and the Top of the T-top required several additional restoration steps in order to remove the damage in the surface.
For these sections, we had to complete numerous buffing steps with heavy compound (wool pad), then move towards medium cut and polish with our Rupes polishers and varying foam pads.
Whereas, with the inside cabin, considering the fiberglass is protected from the elements, we can use a light polish and then start the ceramic coating application.