Poli-Glow Application

[cardiacpaul]

I’ve just finished a Poli-Glow application to a very weatherbeaten 31 year old Catalina 27.

The topsides were very chalky, no amount of scrubbing would pass the finger whitening or butt-sliding whitening test for more than a month or two. In short, the gelcoat is shot. It should be Awl-gripped, Imroned or re-gelcoated, but I’m just not going to do that.

I’d take some digital photos, but the camera has gone to the same place that one sock goes in the dryer. Sorry. (hey, that’s what the kid says, “sorry”… that makes it alllll better, right?)


Surface preparation.

I used copious amounts of cheap clabber girl with bleach cleanser and a stiff nylon floor brush. This works just fine. The trick is to remove all the chalkiness and rinse the cleanser off as well. I found that hitting the deck with the dock hose isn’t enough, but a couple of inches of frog-choking Texas spring rain in one day did the job.

Then comes the Poli-Prep. This blue colored cleaner comes in a quart bottle, you cut it three parts water, one part cleaner and use a spray bottle to apply. The supplied scrubber/applicator looks like a plastic pot scrubber about three by five inches. Work in small areas. Squirt-squirt, scrub, scrub, rinse, repeat. A little more chalk comes off this way, plus it says it removes any wax, oil, whatever else is on there. Ok, can’t prove that by me, this tub has sat in the Texas summer sun for it whole life, I don’t know what the P.O’s did, but I haven’t done diddly to it in 10 years so, I’m pretty safe in assuming there wasn’t any wax on it.

Poli-Glow Application.

The Poli-glow is a milky colored liquid in a quart bottle. The applicator(s) are a one by three inch foam block covered in chamois, and a small piece of chamois for smaller areas.

The application is straightforward, no secrets here. Wipe-on. Done. Work in small areas. The stuff dries very quickly, less than a minute per coat. You’ll need at least 5-6 coats. After the first two or three coats, you’ll wonder to yourself why you did this to your boat, it looks like hell. Uneven, spotty, it’ll look like a slow 10 year old painted your garage with a mop. Not pretty.

Just keep the faith. After the fourth coat, it starts to even out. By the fifth, it looks pretty good. On my sixth, and final coat, it looks GREAT. I have to say, this stuff is really good looking. The topside is really bright and shiny.

Caveats.
This is not a miracle. It won’t restore your gelcoat, it makes what is there very shiny. Very shiny indeed.

If there is a discoloration/stain of any kind on your existing gelcoat, and it is not removed, it will be a very shiny discoloration/stain.

It is slippery as hell when wet. I mean as slippery as frozen owl snot on a sliver platter slippery. DO NOT apply to any place that you may need footing. Ask my ass how I know. Twice. I had to Poli-Prep some of it off, ok?

I did the whole deck with ¼ of a bottle. I will be bribing the offspring with promises of food and beverages to apply said product to the hull. (Forget trying to bribe the Cuban, she’s on to me.)

I am not a product reviewer, I am not associated with the company in any way, I bought the stuff at full retail, I’m not compensated for this (like its worth it, eh?), its just my application. Your mileage may vary, your experiences may be different.

[Gary M]

Paul I used it first last spring and was also very impressed. When you or yours go to do the hull if you can make up something like a scaffold. That way you can do about 10 feet at once, it works much better than trying to do it from a ladder.
My friend who I buy it from has a scaffold that he loans me, works great.

Gary

[TrueBlue]

A few weekends ago, as I struggled with keeping my balance on a 6 ft folding ladder, I watched a boater polishing his hull sides while strapped to a pair of those aluminum stilts that plastering pros use. His head was level with the rub rail and made the task look as easy as waxing a sports car.

[jackytdunaway]

I have some Poliglow on order from Defender and hope to get it this Friday. I have a dock neighbor that used a product called PMP and he applied it to the non-skid also. Did you apply to the non-skid area also? My boat is in the water. Should i just do the deck and cockpit and leave the hull alone or would it be ok to try and apply it while it is in the water to the hull

[cardiacpaul]

I wouldn't put it ANYWHERE you might have a wet foot. My butt is still sore.
I'm not going to haul it to apply it to the hull, I've got a couple of those inflatable rafts and a 16 year old that still works for food (and a 13 year old that wants her dinner delivered).

[jr438234606]

I used a similar product (basically a floor varnish like mop-and-glow) called Glass Cote from Star Bright. Although I was initially VERY pleased with the results, after one season I wish I had NOT used it. For some reason, dirt and grime seem to cling to or become embedded in the coating. No amount of scrubbing will remove the dirt. Removing the coating is no walk in the park either-- it's a messy proposition.

Eventually, weathering caused a crystalization effect of the coating which made my deck look like it was sugar-coated. I also noticed that on areas of my deck which were not particuarly oxidized, the coating did not adhere well. Dirt would combine with it in these areas and the result was a dirty, gooey mess. In areas that were greatly oxidized the coating bonded very well.

Maybe Poli-Glow is better, never used it. From now on, I'm using high-end polishing products rather than varnish. I am particularly interested in one called Re-Structure.

[Denr]

No no no, do not use this product!!! This is the equivalent of “Mop n Glow", yes floor wax with UV inhibitors. This product will look awful after a few years when, yes you heard it right, it starts to flake off, you think the application was tough wait until you have to remove this crap!

[cardiacpaul]

uhhh, the application wasn't tough at all. removal of product was quite easy, squirt the poli-prep stuff on it, wipe with supplied scrubber thingy, rinse...

I'm told that re-application every year or so will help preserve it. We'll see.

If in a few years it flakes off, i don't care.

[sailingdog]

Denr-

I think you're confusing this product with NewGlass2, which does exactly what you're saying... PoliGlow actually works pretty much as advertised. I've used it on several project boats... and was amazed at the results.

[jr438234606]

SD, this product is not an acrylic "varnish"?