# poli glow



## dorourke (Aug 11, 2006)

Has anyone tried Poli Glow? Does it work? My gelcoat is heavally oxidised and I want to try something other than painting this year, painting just doesn't fit the budget yet even though it will lower my maintainence in the future, the up front cost is too steep.


----------



## Guesser (Mar 24, 2007)

I used it it years ago on a Santana 22. It worked great. The key is to get the surface really clean first, because anything you don't take off, gets permanently glossed over. I just remember it was a lot of work to get it prepped and then it took like 5 coats to get an even shine. But it did shine; it's sort of like a varnish for fiberglass and needs to be recoated every 6 months or so, but it really does give you a nice glossy finish.


----------



## chris_gee (May 31, 2006)

i found it did an amazing job with just one easy coat. Someone else in another thread commented that they had trouble getting it off. Since I sold the boat I don't know the longer term.


----------



## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

It can be difficult to take it off... but it does work quite well. I like PoliGlow for use on older boats... On a newer boat, I would use a traditional wax until the finish was oxidized enough to need the help of PoliGlow.


----------



## cardiacpaul (Jun 20, 2006)

I am in process of applying to a badly worn catalina 27. I must say, it does work as advertised. The hull really shines. I've applied 5 coats and its just starting to even out. (see where I missed) I am very pleased. (I am a non compensated, non product non reviewer) I bought the stuff 'cuz I figured I'd give it a shot, the cuban was getting cranky about "white butt". So far, so good. 

As has been stated, the devil is in the details errr, prep. The surface HAS to be clean.


----------



## Bill Mc (Apr 10, 2006)

*Poly Glow*

The previous owner of my boat used Poly Glow religiously on the hull 2 coats every season. On my last haul and bottom job the sides of the boat looked raged and rough. My choice is to wet sand and wax. (Time and $$$$) or a light sanding is the only requirement prior to applying 2 more coats of Poly. It looks great when new, however I think its a quick fix to make a boat shine (instant gratification) and best reserved for boats as a last resort or prior to selling them. If I would know now that my hull had this stuff on it I would have negotiated the deal to have it removed and a good coat of wax put on. It Looks great when new. But after a year you have to do it again to keep up its appearance. Washing and waxing is for me.

Fair Winds,

Bill

Edit; I'm putting this off til next year and will budget for the wet sanding..


----------



## TrueBlue (Oct 11, 2004)

I don't have any direct experience with the stuff, but I've heard and read about several horror stories regarding the eventual yellowing and crackled surface poliglow applications seem to degenerate to. 

Coupled with this possibility, it seems that the work involved to prep and apply poliglow may be more intensive than wet sanding. At the very least, a heavy duty compounding and polish, power-buffed with a wool pad followed by a good wax, will restore most oxidized hulls to a brilliant shine for less effort. 

Plus the shine can be easily renewed each season, as long as there is some gelcoat left.


----------



## Gary M (May 9, 2006)

I would much prefer to use lots of elbow grease and get the gel coat back to a nice shine. However last spring I bought a 22 year old boat that came from salt water and had not been looked after. Polyglow saved the day. 

I had already spent several days trying to clean it even using fine sand paper but after a test of three coats of Macquires there was really no shine coming up. So I tried polyglow, worked great. It comes with a cleaner that is very effective and if I had it sooner I would have saved my self some work. It is normally diluted but full strength will remove just about anything. 

There are boats in my club that have been using it for 5 years and they look great. Not sure what happens eventualy with build up but the blue cleaner it comes with is supposed to take it off. 
My friend who sold it to me has a scaffold set up that made putting it on very easy. Working from a ladder would be a pain since with the scaffold you could do sections about 12 foot long at one time. 

Gary


----------



## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Our boat had been poliglowed by the PO, and looked great. The finish began to wear thin, and it came to light that the hullstripes that had been painted on had been done with lousy paint, and now the blue is rubbing off on fenders and onto other rafted boats - not cool.

So my problem now is a) removing the poliglow and b) removing the old stripes to repaint. I do, however, intend to reapply poliglow afterwards as an alternative to a complete paintjob.
The lack of effort required in poliglow application is a plus (no buffing required)

Poliprep, their pre-cleaning solution is an excellent cleaner - works great. 

I'm presently using Aqua-strip to get the old stripes off, working OK despite cooler than recommended temps. - found out it readily removes old poliglow as well. 

So the job is half done, and we are waiting for warmer weather (will spring ever arrive??) to repaint and refinish.

FWIW Practical Sailor gave Poliglow a "glowing"(sorry) review - second only to a professional wax job in immediate result and longevity.....


----------



## dorourke (Aug 11, 2006)

In September of last year I tried the rubbing compound and rejuvinator and got nothing, I got a reflective dull finish (if that makes sence.) A friend suggested I try Poli Glow just to get the boat in the water for this year, he said it would only be a bandaid to the finish of the hull, however I might be pleased with the results. Thanks for the confidence I'm getting. I will be giving it a try this year, it only costs $79.00 for the treatment as compared to $700.00 for the paint job that I will be doing myself. I'd rather be sailing this spring (whenever it gets here,) than any more refitting, I'm about tired of that. Again, thanks all for the responses.


----------



## BarryL (Aug 21, 2003)

*Poliglow, Poliprep, and Sanding*

Hello,

I have used the Poliglow stuff on my last boat for 3 years, and I will be using it on my new boat too.

You absolutely do not need to use sand paper to remove Poliglow. The cleaner they sell, Poliprep, does an excellent job of remobing poliglow. If you use sand paper, you are making a mistake and making like harder for yourself.

If your hull is faded, poliglow will give you a shiny, faded hull. In this case wet sanding may remove the fading. On my current boat, the boot and cove stripes are barely faded. Wet sanding is helping a great deal. When that is done, I will use Poliprep and Poliglow.

Barry


----------



## paulk (Jun 2, 2000)

We used a product I think was called Polyglow (with a y?) on our Soling. It came in a plastic squeeze bottle (blue?) of about a quart - much like Finesse it, from Dupont. We sailed that boat hard, in salt water, for about 22 years. I'd use the polyglow perhaps twice a season, (less, towards the end) though the boat was washed with soap and water about once a week in summer. When we sold it, you could still see your face in the original gelcoat. We had no yellowing issues on our white hull or navy waterline stripe. Seemed to do ok for us, if it's the same stuff.


----------



## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

The stuff that seems to have a yellowing problem, at least from my experience, is NuGlass2.. not PoliGlow.


----------



## sailaway21 (Sep 4, 2006)

You can get it for $60, just google, i think the first ref to poli-glow is myboatstore or something. I ordered the stuff at like ten o'clock at night and when I opened the door in the morning it was there. Not really, but they sure got it too me fast, at reg rates.


----------



## dorourke (Aug 11, 2006)

I mentioned today to an aquantences of mine about the response I've gotten from the sailnet community on PoliGlow. He uses it every year in the spring and is quite pleased with it and noting the same testimonies I've been reading in this thread. I'm now thinking twice on the painting thing. Good Lord I'm getting wishy-woshy on this subject. I did order the de-oxidiser to use before the Poli-glow treatment, I'll know in a couple of weeks for sure, The snow needs to go away first.


----------



## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

You big wuss... what's a little snow, frostbite and cold to a real sailor...  Apparently, no one told old man winter that he was supposed to leave.


----------



## xort (Aug 4, 2006)

Barry postd...If your hull is faded, poliglow will give you a shiny, faded hull

I have a 1' wide maroon fiberglass stripe just below the rail that is badly faded. Rubbing compound helps a little but not a lot. Have others had the same experience Barry has with bringing out good color in dark, faded gelcoat?

The maroon gelcoat is separated from white gelcoat with a taped on stripe. Will the polyglow cleaner affect the tape stripe?
Thanks


----------



## sailaway21 (Sep 4, 2006)

If you have oxidized, chalky, gel coat and apply Poli-glo, you will have shiny, oxidized, chalky, gel coat. The poly-prep that comes with the system is designed to remove contaminates on the surface, not oxidation. Oxidation is the fading that your boat experiences, primarily due to UV light, and must be removed by mechanical means. Light oxidation can be removed with rubbing and polishing compounds. The goal is to get to solid color with no 'whitish' appearance. This is more difficult to determine on a white hull than a colored gel coat. Perhaps the best illustration would be old house paint that comes off chalky to your hand.
Probably, most of us using this product have boats where rubbing compound is not effective. You've rubbed and rubbed, lubricating with the sweat of your brow, and the finish is still chalky. It's time for stronger measures. Get some 400-800 wet/dry paper at the hardware. It will be black in color. Start with the 800 and see what results are obtained. If you need coarser paper, go down to the 600, or 400, but use the finest grit you can to achieve the desired result. You will want to wet the surface down first, and have a bucket of water alongside to frequently rinse your wet/dry paper in, thereby keeping the grit from clogging up with the oxidized gel coat. You are going to do this by hand, oh joy! I do not recommend a sanding block as you are working on a primarily curved surface. If you use a block you will be much more likely to sand through the gel coat to a depth greater than desired in one spot while not touching the adjacent gel coat. You may even get down to the glas underneath, and now you WILL have a project on your hands. Don't go there, it's ugly.
When you complete the sanding you should wash down the entire boat. The finish will look dull, but consistant in color, and is now ready for the poly-prep. Do not sand any taped stripes as you'll sand through the outer layer of color, and into the base material of the tape. The poly-prep should do no harm to the tape. If it's appearance is undesirable, it is time to replace it or, if the paint edge underneath is neat, eliminate it. After the poly-prep you can apply the poli-glow. The poli-glow will fill in the small pores that have developed over the years, via UV light, in the gel coat. These very small pores are what makes the boat look dull. When light hits the boat it is reflected. On a new hull, it is refected in basically one direction based on the angle of incidence of the light rays hitting it. On an older hull, with those small pores, it is not striking a smooth surface and is thusly reflected in myriad angles, and so does not "shine". It's similar to the girl at the beach. Her tan looks nice, but when she puts on oil she appears to glow or shine. the skin pores are filled in and she now reflects light.

The stuff is so easy to apply that, if you have not enough to re-do entirely next year, I would recommend using it up this year. I did six coats in an hour last year, it still looks good, but I'll put some more on this spring because it's so easy.


----------



## xort (Aug 4, 2006)

sailaway
thanks. I did wet sand one side a few years ago. it didn't remove all the fading. I think it's beyond fixing


----------



## Freesail99 (Feb 13, 2006)

I used 600 grit wet sand papper and easy off to remove the former painted name on my boat. You never know it was ever there.


----------



## sailaway21 (Sep 4, 2006)

Xort,
Sometimes you have to get a little more aggressive in the sanding. As long as you are not going through the gel coat you're fine. I ended up at that point after rubbing the daylights out of the hull. When I went to sanding, I ended up using mostly 400 grit paper. My boat is a 1973 boat and has been stored outside apparently for most of it's life. the sanding did the job. I had been too timid is my prior approaches. I finally did it, after reading Casey's Complete Maintenance Guide for S/B, and deciding it looked like dog**** anyway. If sanding didn't work out, I was going to have to paint it. The only reason I resisted paint, other than cost, is that once you paint something, anything, you are commited to always painting it-you can't go back to where you were. And when we are talking about paint, the only real discussion we are having is, "how long before I have to do it again".


----------



## KeelHaulin (Mar 7, 2006)

Heavy oxidation can be buffed out with a wool pad and automotive rubbing compound (3M liquid rubbing compound is what I used). You must be more careful with auto compound it cuts faster than the marine cleaner-wax. Use a heavy duty variable speed polisher like the one Milwaukee sells and keep the buffer moving and slow-medium speed. Once you get the oxide off you can polish with a foam pad and polishing compound and then wax. I did this on my boat last summer; it was heavily oxidized and it came out looking like new. I would not use 400 grit on a surface you wish to wax/polish; it would probably take 800 grit or finer to get the sanding scratches out. Acrylics like Poly-Glow will fill in the scratches; but polish and wax will not.


----------



## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Are we just talking about using POLI-GLOW on topsides (hull) or actually on the deck....... I need to use it for my deck, don't know why it wouldn't work on that, correct?


----------



## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

bfdtpkt said:


> Are we just talking about using POLI-GLOW on topsides (hull) or actually on the deck....... I need to use it for my deck, don't know why it wouldn't work on that, correct?


We have had good success with poliglow on the topsides, and on the non non-skid areas of the cabin and deck. However we are experiencing some fairly bad discolouration in high traffic areas like the coamings. It is easily dealt with by applying Poliprep and reapplying poliglow, but it's become a bit of a regular thing.

I would not suggest using poliglow on the non-skid areas, as it does tend to take away from the non-skid properties. I've yet to try it, but there's a product called "Woody Wax" (IIRC) that is intended for nonskid areas.


----------



## pegasus1457 (Apr 14, 2002)

My previous boat had a red hull and was pretty badly oxidized. One year I went through the wet sanding-compounding route followed by wax and was not happy with the result.

I tried PoliGlow and have been using it ever since. It looks good for the entire season here (5 months). I put on 5 coats -- which takes about 2 hours total.

I would never dream of using PoliGlow on the non-skid areas. I have been happy with Aurora's Sure Step. It brings up the gleam on the non-skid and I have never lost my footing on it.

But you should look at the post by Halekai
03-02-2007 (this forum)
*Tips on buff/polish & wax

*then look at his photo gallery to see the result he gets. Amazing!


----------

