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DIY ceramic coat


Orangemxz

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@Slurpee Did his with MarineNanoShop great results.

@ibelonginprison seems to be the resident master with boat detailing. From all his writings I'm going to use the Jescar Power Lock Plus Polymer Sealant this summer. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P87W0IU/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_8?smid=A3LIAZP5IVN5FN&psc=1

 

Edited by Ryan1776
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43 minutes ago, Orangemxz said:

I know part of the trouble is getting the boat clean but if you have a new boat? Which products are legit? Has anyone done this successfully?

The deal with ceramic coatings is that it's very close to a permanent layer on your boat.  In areas of the boat that aren't going to see some kind of wear from abrasion by the water or a cover or something it will be permanent.  So if you're going to put a permanent layer on something you want it to look as perfect as it can be.  So a brand new boat means that you will (hopefully) not be detailing out any oxidation, scratches, etc.  That's definitely a time save.  I spent about 4 days doing a paint correction on my 3 year old boat.  A new boat would probably take 1-2 days inside and out and underneath.  You've got to strip it clean down to bare gel.  pH neutralize it.  Optionally do a polish and neutralize again.  Then it's a meticulous process of wipe on, flash, buff off.

That's the extreme.  There's a lot of polymer sealants that I think are really well suited to how most of us use our boats.  It's a lot less work, and a lot less permanent.  Do that first and see if it works for you.  I didn't for me because I needed some unusual effects.  I have a boat on a lift year round.  Even with an all over cover the rising and setting sun beats on the hull base below the chines and the bow.  Also, my lake/river is a bit brackish and can be murky.  So cleaning that off the solid reuben red hull with a deck brush extended 10' is really hard.  The ceramic coat has removed my oxidation worries from the sun beating on the hull.  It's also made wipe downs and cleaning the hull with the brush (or just the hose) actually effective.  That's why I went to the effort.  It's been nearly a year now with it applied and it looks like it's just been waxed still.

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My Marine Nano HD order comes in tomorrow. New boat should be here any day now. Can wait to get it polished out and coated.

A friend of mine just did his 25LSV and it looks amazing.

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8 hours ago, Orangemxz said:

The Jescar seems more directed at cars and paint.  Do we know if there is a better one for gel coat?

It does promote that way, but that's where the bulk of the customers will come from.  @ibelonginprison swears by that stuff on every thread I've read about him talking about detailing the boat. So that's what I'll go with. But I'm sure there are others. :)

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i have owned boats for 30 years. IN the last 10 i have had mostly all black boats. I use a good sealant (not wax) and haven't had any issues with ox or fading. The trick is to make sure you coat 2x per year in the summer for me. I think it works just fine. IMO ceramic is the next iphone.. lots of hype, but isn't worth the price. 

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5 minutes ago, semi said:

i have owned boats for 30 years. IN the last 10 i have had mostly all black boats. I use a good sealant (not wax) and haven't had any issues with ox or fading. The trick is to make sure you coat 2x per year in the summer for me. I think it works just fine. IMO ceramic is the next iphone.. lots of hype, but isn't worth the price. 

Bolded the biggest difference. Ceramic Coating lasts 2-3 years as long as you wash it and use the revive spray periodically. It's not hype, it's just a longer term protection.

Edited by boardjnky4
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9 hours ago, Orangemxz said:

The Jescar seems more directed at cars and paint.  Do we know if there is a better one for gel coat?

I used it last year on my boat.  Worked well enough, although I wouldn't say that it worked better than my normal collinite paste wax.  It was a lot easier to apply though.

 

CleanMalibu.jpg

Edited by oldjeep
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I have been using the Jescar on my boat and vehicles for a year now. I really like it. Gone a good 6 months over winter on wife's car and still holding up very well (we don't get a lot of snow or salt in my area)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Have to make sure you do several coats of sealant - and make sure to let them cure BETWEEN coats. 

The two biggest mistakes I see are people 1. apply too much, and then have to wipe away too much and 2. don't wait 2-3 hours between coats so that the first coat cures and hardens and really sets in. You end up blending the coats if you do them too close together, and it's not as solid. 

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3 minutes ago, ibelonginprison said:

Have to make sure you do several coats of sealant - and make sure to let them cure BETWEEN coats. 

The two biggest mistakes I see are people 1. apply too much, and then have to wipe away too much and 2. don't wait 2-3 hours between coats so that the first coat cures and hardens and really sets in. You end up blending the coats if you do them too close together, and it's not as solid. 

Question about how much to apply. I just got my order a few days ago and tried it on one spot so I could see if I had any questions...
Do you apply enough to still see some blue tint, or thinner? In the one application I did, I had both, where you could see the blue haze and one where you kinda had to look for the product on the hull. 
After 30min I removed it and both areas feel the same. All white boat so it's tough to visually tell any difference. But you can tell by feel the "smoothness" of the area. Both the blue area and the area where it was thinner feel the same. 

Does any of that make sense?!? lol 

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On 4/2/2019 at 12:18 PM, ibelonginprison said:

Have to make sure you do several coats of sealant - and make sure to let them cure BETWEEN coats. 

The two biggest mistakes I see are people 1. apply too much, and then have to wipe away too much and 2. don't wait 2-3 hours between coats so that the first coat cures and hardens and really sets in. You end up blending the coats if you do them too close together, and it's not as solid. 

2 or 3 coats of sealant would take all day or multiple days w/ the cure times.  How long will it last?  I do one coat of collinite paste wax 3 times per year and use hot sauce to wipe down with.  It's so cheap compared to some of the fancier options I've stuck with it.  

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20 hours ago, Gavin17 said:

2 or 3 coats of sealant would take all day or multiple days w/ the cure times.  How long will it last?  I do one coat of collinite paste wax 3 times per year and use hot sauce to wipe down with.  It's so cheap compared to some of the fancier options I've stuck with it.  

2-3 Years

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I just did my 2013 Audi and my wife's 2015 ML 400 with Car Pro Cquartz UK 3.0 topped with Gliss.  I'm pretty happy with the results (but the prep was a lot of work).  The water shedding/beading is sick.  

I was thinking of using a Marine 31 brand ceramic coat on the boat, but my understanding is once the coat is applied, you can't machine polish without having to redo the whole thing.  I get gel scuffs from the ski rope on the aft top deck that I occasionally need to buff out.  

Anyone know the answer to this or have thoughts on dealing with scuffs after a ceramic coat over gel?  

9Fy0ufYjRdazAJVQMERggg.jpg

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