Detailing a Boat

[CrawlinTBSS]

I recently aquired a new customer from a local car forum, and im detailing all his personal vehicles. about 8 of them plus 2 bikes, and a full drag car. Ive completed two cars so far, a TransAm WS6 and Chevy 1500 work truck. Hes very happy with the turnouts and I thank most of that to Adam's Products. The ONLY product i use.

 

Well he asked me today while swapping cars, if i wanted to do his 24ft boat. Ive never done a boat, but hell, im game to detail a boat. ( Good $$$)

 

My question .... Does Adams products work on boats? the lower half of the bottom side is cover in a protective like plastic coating to prevent algea growth, so i dont have to worry about detailing any of that besides hand wash. Basically, anything water and above needs to be polished and waxed. So im trying to do a bit of research on what kind of products i need. Anything special for protecting in water from rust and other issues?

 

(If Adams doesnt work, maybe we can still discuss another product that i could look into to plan on this in the future for if i need to order stuff)

 

Thanks as always!

[PrinceValium]

Edit:

Naming competitor's products not allowed.

 

Where these products are specifically designed for gel coats with diminishing abrasives...I am sure Adam's products or most detailing products would also work.

[Chewy]

Honestly the biggest differences in Marine and automotive is the OTC stuff for boats will be silicon free, whereas the automotive tends to have silicon in it.

 

If the gelcoat is in good non faded condition, then grab your PC and apply a coat of MSS. I've used this the last 3 years on ours with AMAZING success.

 

If you're reviving the gelcoat, then sure, you'll want to use a rotary and some pretty stout compounds to get it shined up. If it's marginally bad, SSR will work just fine.

 

Salt water is more corrosive yes, but my parents have a boat on the gulf and they have the work done on it. They use Meguires products on it. They don't last as long as they should, but they look OK. Big thing is to stay away from silicon. It yellows the gelcoat.

 

Chris

[THE Mook]

its all good. Im not worried on the gel coat. Just the rest of the body. I think the interior will be more time then the outside of the boat.

 

Either way brother, Justin can help you more than I can here. I've only seen the pictures of all the boats he did last year. They all looked great too.

 

 

Mook

[CrawlinTBSS]

its all good. Im not worried on the gel coat. Just the rest of the body. I think the interior will be more time then the outside of the boat.

[PrinceValium]

Justin from Swan Creek Auto Care does boats all the time with success, using Adam's Premium Car Care Products.

 

Mook

 

Mook if you are going to delete any link I put in my previous post you might as well delete the post all together. Obviously Adam's does not make a gel coat product was why I mentioned the other product.

[DaveVY]

I would be looking at marine specific products, they are designed for a different set of environmental parameters. From my limited perspective the sealants would be preferred over a wax for longevity. Also corrosion inhibitor characteristics are different, especially in a salt water environment. Marine supply stores stock different types of products than what is found in automotive supply houses.

 

[CrawlinTBSS]

This will be freshwater, as im in Chi so im guessing he goes to local rivers or lake mich.

 

So would Americana be effective enough for protection on the boat? i could understand all the top side stuff i could use that on, like a car to protect from sun, but im wondering about the water side.

 

Thanks for all the info so far! Looks like i wont have to order much more then some more Adams products!

[THE Mook]

as stated, im not reall worried about the gel coat. Customer DOESNT want me touching it aside from a hand wash when i wash the boat, as the coat is brand new.

 

Im just trying to get some info if Adams polish products work on boats for the panels that are NOT coated in gel ( basically about a foot below the water and up to the top of the boat, is what i have to work on.

 

Im guessing i should look into at least a marine wax instead of like the Americana.

 

Any info, insight, links is great! Thanks yal!

 

 

Justin from Swan Creek Auto Care does boats all the time with success, using Adam's Premium Car Care Products.

 

Mook

[ledger64]

the difference between salt water or fresh water may play an effect. might want to think about that too depending on where the boat goes in the water.

[CrawlinTBSS]

as stated, im not reall worried about the gel coat. Customer DOESNT want me touching it aside from a hand wash when i wash the boat, as the coat is brand new.

 

Im just trying to get some info if Adams polish products work on boats for the panels that are NOT coated in gel ( basically about a foot below the water and up to the top of the boat, is what i have to work on.

 

Im guessing i should look into at least a marine wax instead of like the Americana.

 

Any info, insight, links is great! Thanks yal!

[CrawlinTBSS]

im not worried about the gel coating on the bottom side of the boat. he doesnt want me to touch it aside from hand wash.

 

Im just worrying about anything at the waterline and above.

[3PedalMINI]

I'm doing my fishing boat soon in preparation for selling it, hope I can get a few extra dollars out of it. I'm going to try Adams and my PC (wish I had a flex ) on it and see how it goes. If it doesn't work oh well, but If it does, great!

 

There are two happiest days of your life....the day you buy your boat and then the day you sell it

[Jasssc]

I'm doing my fishing boat soon in preparation for selling it, hope I can get a few extra dollars out of it. I'm going to try Adams and my PC (wish I had a flex ) on it and see how it goes. If it doesn't work oh well, but If it does, great!

[07RS4]

You can give the Adam's a try if it's not that bad...but if you go to the boat forums, you will see that most of the guys use a wool pad and fiberglass/gel coat specific products. You never know though, you may get the results your looking for.

[Wilfong9]

Cool, I'm gonna give it all I try I think. I do just have the PC but the boat only spends about 1 month a year outdoors right now due to work schedules. The top cap still looks close to flawless. I can only imagine how the red flake is going to pop with some glaze and Americana. Thanks as always guys!

[Chewy]

I've used Adams products the last 4 years on our boat. You're not correcting the gelcoat and they're all silicon free so safe on gelcoat. They've worked great for me!

 

 

Sent from the past using special algorithms and data nodes!

[3PedalMINI]

i would use boat products, gel coats are miserably hard. I corrected my Jetski on just the front cover (its black) and dam near took me 2 1/2 hours to get from swirl to perfection using adams products. I was using the 4" focus pads on the PC. I didnt have a flex at the time but wished i had, If you dont have one and insist on using adams products then i would get a flex (if you dont already have one)

 

I will say though that Quick Sealant is amazing on it! works much much better then marine wax since his boat is larger i would hit it with QS then with marine wax

[Wilfong9]

I'm interested in this question as well. A good buddy of mine has a 20' bass boat with the thick gel coat and I was wondering if polishing it would be a safe option. I know the thick gel coats have a high tendency of oxidizing on the top cap and it seems like Adam's polishes would be just the answer. Hopefully some of the true experts in this community will have some good advice or first-hand experience.