Case Study
Read This Before You Re-Paint

Overview
1

The SeaVee had been sitting at the same dock in South Florida for 13 years, facing north, with the starboard side facing the dock and the portside exposed to unrelenting sunshine. The boat has had very little maintenance done and had not shown a luster for more than 4 years. The boat was wet sanded 4 years ago and this had removed a significant portion of the gel coat.

The owner was considering painting the boat at a cost of nearly $10,000 until he happened across Glidecoat’s Professional Top Coating process.

Model:
SeaVee
Year:
2003
Length:
29'
Location:
South Florida
Challenge
2

The boat was not on a regular wax/detailing schedule and had not shown a luster for more than 4 years. The props, running gear and hull were cleaned by a diver on a monthly basis, but beyond that, very little maintenance had been down.

The yellow hull on the port side had considerable fading. There were areas where the white undercoat was showing through. There was also no consistency in the color with some areas showing fading more than others.

To measure the degree of luster remaining in the gel coat a Gloss Meter was used. This meter reflects light off the surface and captures the result. The gloss readings showed that there was almost no shine to the boat at all, with most readings registering in the single digits.
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
3

We began the restoration by applying a wash of heavy degreaser and given the heavy staining used an acid wash, which we normally refrain from as this makes the gel coat even more porous. The Glidecoat application is a hard coating, providing a glass like finish, so we needed not just clean the surface, but make it as consistent as possible.

The SeaVee boat was then washed with Glidecoat Nano Wash leaving a surface that was completely clean and ready for the next step. Glidecoat’s Nano Compound was then used to begin the process of restoring the gel coat. The Nano Technology provides an advantage over other compounds as it is able to penetrate deeply into the gel coat. A DA polisher was used with foam pads designed to enhance the cutting action of the compound to improve the result, but this step also cut the amount of time needed compared to a traditional buffer and wool pad.

The next step in the process was to use Glidecoat Nano Polish. This product is unique because it helps to pull out stains that could not be removed with the cleaners and acids in the marine 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 Coating is a four 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 Glidecoat’s Surface Wipe to wipe off all the areas to be coated. This step removes any further contaminants from the gel coat and ensures we are working with a clean surface. With the surface now fully prepared and consistent we started the application of Glidecoat’s Top Coating.

The last and final step was to apply Glidecoat’s Prop Optimizer to the propeller and running gear.

Washing the boat with Glidecoat Nano Wash ensures the surface is completely clean and free of contaminates.
Working in small 2' by 2' sections, the top coating - Glidecoat Liquid Crystal - was applied to restore the gel coat's luster.
The Result
4

Once finished, you could see a tremendous transformation. Glidecoat’s Top Coating product, will enhance the gel coat, bringing back not just the shine, but the color as well and protect the finish going forward for upwards of 2 years without the need to 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 gel coat, but rinse off with water.

Furthermore, the cost of the application is about 20% of the cost of painting.

After allowing the coating to cure 8-12 hours we again used the gloss meter. Now readings had climbed from the 30’s and 40’s after compounding and polishing to as high as the 90’s with the application of Glidecoat’s Liquid Crystal.

The hull really popped with that nice bright yellow, especially where the faded areas had been.

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