After reading this post I thought I share my experience using Poliglow,etc. Last year I bought a 83 Nacra 5.0 and a few weeks back decided it was time to make her look pretty one more time. I did want to control the cost, I spend approx $68.- on Poliglow from Defender (great service and fast shipping)and some misc stuff from West Marine for a total less then $100.-. I thought about but decided against replacing the decals even though I saw some very cool decals that some got made right on this blog. Main reason for my decision was that I noticed that the decals on my boat were sitting on a somewhat raised gelcoat layer compared to the rest of the boat so replacing decals would have become a potential nightmare if they had not exactly the same shape.
The things that I was able to do were:
-Made some necessary repairs to scratches using Marine Tex.
-Cleaned the boat with a hard scrubbing brush and lightly sanded her with 600 grid. I really did go the extra mile to make the boat look as clean as possible, I probably spend about 6 hours on this. As the instructions say, this is probably the most important part/step of the process as Poliglow will lock in any stains that show on the hulls.
-Please note that pior to my cleaning/sanding these hulls were extremely very dull already, the sanding obviously didn't help but the gelcoat color looked much better after this.
-I applied the Poliprep which at this point really did not make much of a visual difference to the boat, it was already clean. The smell of the poliprep stuff reminded me very much of Simple Green that I have used to clean the siding on my house and gutters.
- I replaced a black weathered with a white anti-slip strip that I picked up at West Marine for approx. $20.-
-I spend a little time inventing a few brackets to hang the hulls off the garage ceiling (found that a piece of oak wood with some pre-drilled holes work perfect).
- After this I did apply the Poliglow in the same fashion as I had seen on the youtube instructional video. As the instructions indicate, the first few coats get sucked up by the boat and after that it will get easier for every extra coat I put on. I think I may have gone over it about 6 times.
Results (one hull completed vs one hull to be done) shown in pictures below. For less then $100.- not too shabby in my opinion, the boat looks pretty darn good once again! Per Damon, once the boat is poliglowed, it will not stain as easy which I'm very excited about. Tomorrow I'll do the other hull and put it all together and will be ready to hit the water this upcoming weekend.
One hull done.
Difference between Poliglowed and not Poliglowed hull:
Cheers!
Marc..
Edited by FlyingDutch on Apr 30, 2012 - 10:18 PM.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc C.
Cleveland, Ohio.
Current love: Nacra 5.0
Old loves: Int Laser, Int Europe, Int 470, Int 420, Vaurien
------------------------------------------------------------------
--