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Ceramic Coating on a New Bu


cmargosi

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Hello all.  Just came to an agreement to purchase a new M220 (leftover 2022) from my dealer and trade in my 2019 23 LSV. 

I have had a lot of success with Ceramic coatings on my cars.

Have any of you out there done them on your boats?  What could I expect to pay for the M220?  Pros/Cons?  I would want to have it professionally applied....

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41 minutes ago, cmargosi said:

Hello all.  Just came to an agreement to purchase a new M220 (leftover 2022) from my dealer and trade in my 2019 23 LSV. 

I have had a lot of success with Ceramic coatings on my cars.

Have any of you out there done them on your boats?  What could I expect to pay for the M220?  Pros/Cons?  I would want to have it professionally applied....

Have only done it on a truck, not a boat.  Which is kind of strange considering the boat coasts 200K+, and the truck costs a lot less...  My bad I guess.  Looking forward to see what others have to say about this.   

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The only downside I see besides cost is that if you need to buff a scuff mark with a mechanical buffer or just want to apply a mechanical polish you need to re-coat wherever the buffer touches it.  If not for that fact I'd c-coat my boat in a heartbeat.    

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There are so many threads on this forum about this.  I’ve been doing it to my boats for 7 years. And my SeaDoos, SUPs, wakeboards, dinghy’s, and daily vehicles. 

I will give you two pieces of advice. Gel coat is way more porous than clear coat.

1) prep, sand, buf, polish, neutralize and clean. I say again prep. 
2) you should use product formulated with thicker solids for gel coat for best results. 

My fav is marinenanoshop.com. I’ve used them for most of a decade. EOL.

Edited by Slurpee
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10 hours ago, Cole2001 said:

If you have hard water it’s a game changer. Water spots come off a lot easier. Still need to wipe down but with a lot less effort and product. 

So if you still have to wipe down anyway, what have you gained? I wipe mine every time with Boat Bling with same results and can buff out any defects through the year without having to recoat. I do keep a good coat of wax on mine but I enjoy doing that and costs pennies comparable to Ceramics. I don't see the advantage myself. Now if All I had to do was pull it out and slam it back in the garage with no effort on detailing, that would be worth it. Thinking it would look awful if that was your normal procedure with ceramic coat.

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The biggest advantage of Ceramics over wax is the level of UV and chemical/stain protection and longevity as a sealant.   It is also going to be easier than wax to detail if you don't wipe down all the time and are less than diligent, or if the water you boat in is prone to staining.  But the reasons cited by @dalt1 are the reasons I don't coat, as I trailer frequently and wipe down with boat bright every time and regularly polish/remove scuff marks mechanically.  If my boat sat on the lift all year and was rode hard and put away wet, so to speak, I'd use Ceramics over wax no question.  

Edited by jjackkrash
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4 hours ago, dalt1 said:

So if you still have to wipe down anyway, what have you gained? I wipe mine every time with Boat Bling with same results and can buff out any defects through the year without having to recoat. I do keep a good coat of wax on mine but I enjoy doing that and costs pennies comparable to Ceramics. I don't see the advantage myself. Now if All I had to do was pull it out and slam it back in the garage with no effort on detailing, that would be worth it. Thinking it would look awful if that was your normal procedure with ceramic coat.

I don’t wipe down every time and because of the coating water spots are reduced drastically. Yes if you keep up with a good coat of wax you will see similar results. My boat stays on a lift with only access to one side and I’ll go out multiple times per day  so not practical for wiping down each time. After a week of use I can wipe down and remove nearly all water spots with just a rag. 

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I suppose it also has to do with color. My old boat had some black on it and that would get spotted badly, along with the windshield. New boat is white, blue and silver. Might be a lot easier to manage. 

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My full boat cover does well. But it was the cause initially for me to go to ceramics. The buffeting from the wind slowly scuffed my gel coat. It got pretty hazy there for a while in certain places.

I tried ceramic for the extra hardness. It performed really well there.  It took three years to get noticeable scuffs again. And nothing like what happened in just one year with only boat bling. I also get a lot of rising and setting sun on the boat. The UV protection makes me feel better when I leave the cover off for a few days. 

 I also go out multiple times a day in hard water. So it’s not wiped down every time. I hose it off when it’s on the lift each time though. And I’ll grab a towel and just swipe the few spots where water can’t run off. 

In response to the comment about wiping down. With the ceramic I just drag a towel over it real quick. Using boat bling or whatever takes much much longer to rub on and off. 

If you’re a do it yourself person you can put ceramic on your boat for your time plus a few hundred dollars. The real cost isn’t the ceramic. It’s the time to paint correct and prep.  A new boat may not be too bad. But a year old boat can be a real two weekend project. 

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I have full ceramic on my boats exterior and interior.  I love it and makes clean up much easier especially on the interior.  I have had dirt and blood on the seats that has even dried and still cleans right off with just a wet rag and leaves no stains.  Hard water still shows on the boat but not as bad and cleans off with less effort.  I had a shop through my dealer do it and they use Ceramic Pro.  I don't have any regrets for doing it.  I had mine done a few years ago and purchased it at the boat show which my dealer was doing a discount if you scheduled it at the boat show.

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2 hours ago, Hemmy said:I have had dirt and blood on the seats that has even dried and still cleans right off with just a wet rag and leaves no stains.  

That’s been a long question of mine for a while. They coat the seats as well? I was very close to booking mine for a full ceramic as well and was unsure about how it works for the cushions. Could you elaborate for me please? I may have mine coated this year now if I can better understand how the interior coating works. Thanks!

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42 minutes ago, TAQ44 said:

That’s been a long question of mine for a while. They coat the seats as well? I was very close to booking mine for a full ceramic as well and was unsure about how it works for the cushions. Could you elaborate for me please? I may have mine coated this year now if I can better understand how the interior coating works. Thanks!

Not really sure I can elaborate too much.  When I had mine done, I had the option to also do the interior.  Not sure what the cost was since it has been several years.  Just like the outside, they had to thoroughly detail the all the seats and seatbacks to remove any dirt or blemishes so it doesn't get sealed in.  My wife was sold on the ceramic immediately since our daughter was only 6 at the time and we also have a dog that rides on the boat with us.  I can add that prior to getting this done, I had one stain on one of my cushions that they couldn't get out prior to ceramic coating it.  After, I don't have any new stains.  I think it is worth it, especially if you are going to keep the boat for awhile. 

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There are specific products made for interior ceramic coating.  It's the same product, just made to adhere to the vinyl or leather.  Chemical Guys makes a DIY product.  Always made more sense to me for a boat than a car....as the boat gets exposed to our dog and a lot of snacks, along with kids climbing in and out of the water, etc....

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Be sure to know exactly how the particular ceramic is going to bond and work.  And be aware it'll potentially mess with your warranty on the vinyl and potentially affect the performance of the cool touch.  So basically, YMMV.  Be smart about it before trying it out.

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For the last two years, at the beginning of the season, I polish the boat and apply Griots 3/1 Ceramic Spray Wax.  It has held up remarkably well and it’s a cheaper alternative to a very expensive full blown Ceramic job.  

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my long time detail guy actually talked me out of ceramic coating for my bu.  He said our water isn't hard and that with my boat spending 90% of its life garaged or covered from UV damage it really wouldn't be a good cost benefit for me.  He has done a lot of ceramic coating on all kinds of recreation equipment, and he said that in his experience ceramic coating is much better at adhering to metal surfaces rather than fiberglass.  He said it usually needs to be reapplied every few years to keep its luster on marine fiberglass and the money would be better spend on buffing/wax a couple more times a year.  most of my paint is metallic flake so maybe they played in to his advice.  

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