Ask Mike Phillips your Boat Detailing Questions If you have a question about detailing your boat with Marine 31 products or about something you saw on Ship Shape TV or in a video, please post your questions in this forum. |
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#1 |
Status: Director of Training
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 675
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![]() More steps usually equals better results...
Just decide how nice of a finish you want and then choose how many steps you want to do. Here's an example from this 2000 24' Baja we're going to buff out Thursday night. ![]() Before Thursday I went out and did some buffing showing the before and after results from buffing three different sections using, 1-Step: All-In_One Gel Coat Polish & Wax . 3-Steps: Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Oxidation Cleaner + Gel Coat Gloss & Color Restorer + All-In_One Gel Coat Polish & Wax. 4-Steps: Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Oxidation Cleaner + Gel Coat Gloss & Color Restorer + Gel Coat Final Step Polish + Gel Coat Carnauba Wax + Sealant. This first picture shows the gel-coat in its original condition. There is zero gloss or clarity to the finish. ![]() ![]() This second section is after buffing the gel-coat using a one-step cleaner/wax. The surface is now shinier because it's smoother and has wax protection. Not bad for a one-step and a lot of people would be happy to go from the before condition to these kind of results in one step and be done. ![]() ![]() This next section was compounded, polished and then a one-step cleaner/wax was applied and the gloss and clarity are dramatically better than both the control and the previous section where only one-step was performed. ![]() ![]() In this next section I compounded, polished, polished a second time with a fine cut polish and then hand applied a finishing wax and now the results are like show room new. ![]() ![]() Each approach works and as you can see, anytime you're working on severely neglected gel-coats you will generally get better results by performing more steps. ![]() The most important lesson to learn from this demonstration is this... Frequent boat care is easy boat care... Actually, frequent boat care is easy and FAST boat care. That is, if you just bought a brand new boat or if you just had your boat detailed, then NOW is the time to start regularly maintaining the gel-coat finish so it doesn't go bad in the first place. If your gel-coat finish is already in great shape it's very fast and easy to buff around the boat ONE TIME and maintain the current condition. As time goes by, neglect will take her toll and then you'll have to do more steps to get better results and that will mean more time, energy and investment. Frequent boat care is easy boat care... ![]()
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Made by boat people for boat people... |
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#2 |
Status: Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 20
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![]() excellent post! Terrific break down on how your products treat the condition of gel coat, both individually and collectively. This should be stickied.
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#3 |
Status: Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Land O' Lakes, FL
Posts: 44
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![]() the results of that four step are definitely worth the extra work. that's a great finish.
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#4 |
Status: Junior Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Sarasota, FL
Posts: 18
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![]() I've been tossing around how many steps I'm going to do on my own boat next week. It's a large boat at 36ft total length, so every extra step is hours and hours of additional time. After seeing this it reminded me of the difference one additional step can make. I have plenty of time to do the work so I might as well do it now.
I would end up regretting not doing the additional work once I had it in the water. |
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#5 | ||
Status: Director of Training
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 675
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![]() Quote:
And like a lot of projects, the pictures don't show you as well as being here in person just how nice the finish came out and how bad it was to start with. Yancy and I are going to try to squeeze in a "before" video today and then Friday take the "after" video as I like to document all my projects for a host of reasons. Quote:
Ain't that the truth... tough decision as each time you go around a boat with a buffing step besides the buffing there's the wiping off of residue and all totaled together, doing 2, 3, and 4 steps to a boat is a lot of work. That's why in the "Boat Detailing Industry", you don't see this type of work being done because most boat owners won't pay the kind of money it takes for both the time, professional quality products, and the talent to do it right the first time. Of course... you always get what you pay for... I always kept my boats "Boat Show Ready" but I've also only owned two boats and both were under 20' so my projects were a LOT easier than anyone with a boat longer than 20'. I plan on buying a boat this time next year, not sure what type but probably a center console in the 20' range. ![]()
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#6 |
Status: Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Cape Coral, Fl.
Posts: 37
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![]() People need to know how often they need to wax their boat. Most people I run into don't even start thinking about waxing their boat for a year or more after purchasing it or they think that a wax job will last a year in the Florida sun! Gel coat is a single stage surface and the only thing to protect it is the wax we apply.
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#7 | |
Status: Director of Training
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 675
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![]() Quote:
That is a great point and when it comes to a new boat the most important point. It's so easy to take zero action when looking at a clean and shiny boat but oxidation takes place slowly at first and that's when to nip it in the bud. It's called Regular Maintenance I have two new episodes coming up on Ship Shape TV, one on Top Side Detailing and one on Hull Detailing and in these segments we address what to use and how often. One of the goals of this forum is education as education solves problems before they become problems... ![]()
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#8 |
Status: Junior Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Sarasota, FL
Posts: 18
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![]() I'm looking forward to those episodes. It's hard to keep up with hull maintenance when the boat is in the water.
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#9 |
Status: Junior Member
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 7
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![]() nice post Mike. I just got most of the line in my arsenal now.
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