Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

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liquid
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Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by liquid »

Wanted to know what products and seasonal rituals people have in maintaining the interior and exterior of their boats.

I've heard 303 Aerospace protectant is widely utilized for interiors but Cobalts are unique animals and being a new owner I'm curious to hear from you guys about products and seasonal/daily maintenance.
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

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Interesting stuff - I spoke to my Cobalt dealer and one of the guys said they use SprayNine for cleaning everything - vinyl, flooring, gelcoat - and 303 aerospace to protect the vinyl.

So then i called Cobalt directly to see what they recommend and I spoke to Rick who has been at cobalt for years. He said that all the products they've used that they found Dow bathroom cleaner works the best (scrubbing bubbles). He also said that the vinyl they use is pre-treated so they don't need all that extra protection. He recommended any quality auto wax like Mcguire's for the gelcoat...

Interesting. I'm going to get the Dow cleaner and the spray9 and see what works better for basic cleaning and I'm definitely getting the 303 for occasional treatment. I've also read about products from Boat Bling that seem to be very good as well. There are several products but I think I'll also get the Hot sauce for quick wipedowns to remove water spots after use.

***Rick also mentioned one other thing - the worst thing that can happen to vinyl is staining from sunscreen - anyone have any "safe" sunscreen suggestions for cobalt vinyl?
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by jhnmdahl »

Great feedback - thanks for sharing your research. We have the white vinyl in our boat, and haven't noticed any sunscreen staining so far (using Coppertone sport lotion in the tapered blue bottle). I suspect that rubbing it in well before sitting would significantly help mitigate the risk, but I've heard that time in the sun eventually eliminates most sunscreen stains at least as well as vinegar, WD40, and many other common solutions. There's been some speculation that sunscreen discoloration is actually a fungus, and people have even reported success using Ortho rose fungicide to elimimate sunscreen stains on vinyl.

My local dealers also suggested that most auto products are pretty readily adaptable to boats, and I've used the same wax and cleaners on the boat as for the car. I suspect the day will come when I want to buff the hull a little rather than just wax it, and I'll look at 3M's products (or maybe just use some of the McGuire's stuff I already have) for that.

I'll have to look up the 303 and see what that's all about. It might be a nice thing to help keep the vinyl from staining as result of minor mishaps.

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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

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So as some of you may be beginning to realize I am a little OCD about researching the best products to keep things running and looking pristine.

After poking around on the internet I decided to call the guys at Boat Bling directly and spoke to Zach. He could not have been more patient or knowledgeable about the products.

My concern has centered around wetslipping my boat on the dock after the ice this winter wreaked havoc on one of our lifts (my father's 1947 Chris Craft Rocket sits on the new lift) and I didn't want any residual scum line on the boat. It's only been in the water 2 weeks and I pulled it once to give her a scrub but I want to maintain it's clean white gelcoat.

So here;s the short:

1 - Hot sauce to wipe down to get off hard water spots after each use
2 - Vinyl sauce to clean the vinyl after each use
3 - Condition sauce to UV protect after every 4 uses or a month of weekend use.

Here's a link to the packages if you're into keeping your boat detailed like I do:
http://boatbling.net/packages/

The C-Note package is great if you have a lot of Hard Water and get water spots on your boat - I'm jumping in with Boat Bling Threesome to start. Will report back.

***cool sidenote - I mentioned 303 Aerospace and he mentioned that one of their former heads is now an equity partner in Boat Bling after the sale of the company. All I needed to hear.
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by jhnmdahl »

I did some looking around at the various cleaners and protectants for marine vinyl, and a UV protectant at a minimum sounds like a good idea. The 303 stuff has a pretty good reputation, so it will be interesting to hear how you like the Boat Bling products relative to them.
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by liquid »

Time to revisit this as I've been using the Boat Bling products for a while now. Did a Major clean before i put her away for the winter. Wax. Pulled the carpets. Did all the vinyl.

Can't say enough. I'm not pitching their products and I used Maguire's for the wax but the vinyl and conditioning sauce - HOLY. looks brand new and very time anyone moves it the seats squeak like they're brand new.

I'm about to detail the whole boat again - will post pics when I'm done.
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

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I have heard nothing but good things about boat bling. I use bio kleen products. All are bio degradable. Have had nothing but good luck with them. Boat polish this year was the first time with it and it was the easiest on and off polish I've ever used. So far no boat Scum to scrub off. Wash and wipe. There amazing cleaner for the interior is great. Keeps everything white and clean there conditioner protects very well. I have hull cleaner and window cleaner yet to use though. I have detail spray for minor clean up. I use starbrite canvas cleaner and water proof for the covers great stuff.
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by liquid »

Do you drop in every time you use the boat or do you have a wet/dry slip.

I do a combo of all three depending on the time of year. Curious about what everyone does with the water line at the end of the year to get that hull white again besides "dropped it off at the dealer"...
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by Big Block Power »

I trailer it and dunk it every time. The longest it will stay in the water is maybe a few days if I'm on vacation for a week. If I get a scum line and if soap and water doesn't take it off I use hull cleaner. Starbrite hull cleaner worked great. I bought bio kleen hull cleaner for this year I'll see how that does. But a good coat of wax or polish helps a ton. So I do all my cleaning. Plus the boat is even covered in the garage to keep all the dust out.
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by liquid »

i keep it covered in the garage as well, unless of course we're garage boating...

For the scum line i use The Works. A lot of people chime in on this but the facts are pretty simple. Some form of Oxacylic acid/Muriatic/or other acid is what people use to remove the line. Whether you pay more for something coded for Marine use or you go to the depot and get straight acid or Walmart for Toilet Bowl cleaner is your prerogative.

Just watch the stuff on your trailer - especially if it's galvanized.

BB - I am really curious about that Bio Kleen stuff on the hull though. There's a part I can't get to except for when it's on a lift but I'd never put Acid on it in the lake... Is that stuff safe to apply in the water?
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by jhnmdahl »

Muriatic acid isn't really all that bad for a lake in small quantities - same as stomach acid, for the most part. Oxalic acid is also found in plants, and is no biggie in small quantities. Still, I wouldn't go splashing gallons of it in nature, or you're bound to burn some spots.

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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by Big Block Power »

All the bio kleen products are bio degradable. I'm not a chemist by any means. You could call then the owner answers the phone and he is the chemist great company. So far very happy with all there products. I used start brite hull cleaner before great stuff too. I wouldn't put it in that water but again I don't knew the end effects of it. John has a way better handle on it than myself. I've used Lysol toilet bowl cleaner on my red crownline and worked the best I that boat nothing else cleaned it very well. I would think it's safe for water as it goes down our drain! Right?
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

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Ha! Correct!

Somehow I feel differently about what i put down the toilet then I do about my pristine lakefront but you're not wrong!

Cue the environmentalists.
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by notstock4long »

liquid wrote: Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:54 am So here;s the short:

1 - Hot sauce to wipe down to get off hard water spots after each use
2 - Vinyl sauce to clean the vinyl after each use
3 - Condition sauce to UV protect after every 4 uses or a month of weekend use.
I'm curious about the vinyl sauce and condition sauce...it seems that using the cleaner (vinyl sauce) would wipe up the conditioner. Like with cleaning leather upholstery in a vehicle...you clean the leather, then put on the conditioner. So it seems like you'd have to go back and hit the areas you spot cleaned with the conditioner. Or is it not designed to work that way?

I'm looking at picking up a few of their products in anticipation for the boat getting here in a couple of weeks, so I'm just curious. I don't mean to nit pick your cleaning strategy.
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Re: Vinyl & Gel Coat Maintenance

Post by Big Block Power »

I believe vinyl sauce will not remove the conditioner. It's like the hot sauce will not remove wax.
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