boat polishes

[radwill]

what polishes do you use for your cats? Any preferences? Brands to stay away from?

cheers,

will

[Scott]

I only use Mothers liquid canubau wax. You get it from most automotive stores. Just make make sure you use the wax friendly carwash liquid or it will wash straight off.

I prefer it to normal polish as you are just coating the gelcoat.

If your boat is a bit dull use k&h cut & polish then put the wax over it.

[knobblyoldjimbo]

I've used Meguirs cut and then polish to excellent effect on my trailer sailer (which is red and oxidises really easily).

However, I've heard it said that wet and dry 1000 grit is better for performance.

[cruiser]

Anything 3M is good, but autoglym is great for quick hits and a bit of longevity. Why don't you paint it with Durepox.....

[HooD]

Expansion/contraction is going to kill that boat. can you imagine how hot its going to get sitting the in sun before being dipped in the water. Black on sides or bottom is ok... but the decks are just asking for trouble.

[tonyquoll]

The Durepox website says "In results done by Otago Flume Laboratory they found that its satin finish gave a 15% less drag coefficient that a high gloss surface."

Some have found rubbing 600grit wet& dry directionally along the hull works, which may have some scientific merit. This creates longitudinal ridges that enhance laminar flow, like a shark skin. More at: http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/home-page-content/home-page-content/biomimicking-sharks.html

The super-swimsuits which have broken all the world records have a "surface texture promotes boundary layer turbulance which reduces surface drag". From: http://www.shopwiki.co.uk/fastskin+swimsuit

Those 3 examples suggest a gloss polish may not be the go.

On the other hand when I used a Turtle-wax polish, it definitely made my boat faster. Of course rubbing off all the green gunge, dead insects and bird shit that had accumulated might have been part of that result...

[Loose Change]

High gloss wax based polishes are going to kill most of the performance due to the surface tension of the water having been changed at the conatct point and now it wants to repell the water away from the boat (the nice beading effect on your car. Ideally you could paint your boat with a hydrophyllic paint which will make the suface more slippery, but alas, most rules outlaw hydrophyllic paints. The best remaining alternative is, as someone has already stated to wet sand your boat in a fore and aft direction using 1000 grit or even 1200 grit wet and dry paper, being always mindfull to ONLY sand fore and aft.

[slammer]

It is the same principle as applied to a golf ball and surfaces. Air riding over pockets of air is far more efficient that air over a huge bald surface. A dimple-less golf ball has no stability and will veer waywardly and at best will travel 150m. The NZ America Cup yachts used this dimpled approach in Fremantle and it seemed to work ok for them. You can use the same principle when grabbing a boogie board and heading to the sand dunes. Wet the board and cover the base with sand, now the board is running sand over sand and is much faster.

I've know of some punters who apply rainex to their hulls- pointless really. Screw up a tack and that'll cost you a lot more than a swipe of rainex.

[knobblyoldjimbo]

A dimple-less golf ball has no stability and will veer waywardly and at best will travel 150m

after spending three years trying to smooth the bottom of my Maricat this is pretty much what happens to me - possibly the ijiit on the stick as much as anything!!

[TornadoSport260]

To further Loose Cannons points

Its a trick i was taught by Craig Ferris (Head coach of Singapore olympic team, ex Italian 49er olympic coach etc etc) while in the aussie youth team.

To remove the mould release agents from new hulls, use dish washing liquid on a sponge and rub the hulls down.

For older boats that have had some TLC in the way of a cut/polish, the common belief is that this will make the boat faster because the surface is smooth... well from what Craig said its a yes/no situation. Whilst it being smooth will help the wax coating left by the polish will grip the water (seen as water beading) which for a boat isnt what you want, you want your boat to be as slippery as possible. The dish washing liquid does the trick to fix the wax coating.

I've been buffing and dish washing liquiding my hulls since i heard of it and you know, its 2/5th of f... all. Going to jenny craig (toilet) prior to the race would probably have the same effect, as would spending more time on the water training. But when your at olympic level 2/5ths of f... all is 2/5ths of f... all advantage you've got over your competition.

Take it or leave it, i'm passing on info from an olympic coach for the betterment of us all.

[QB2]

to sum up .. clean the boat and clean out your system.

i was going to wet sand my hulls but will use the dishwashing liquid because it needs a clean more than anything .

What does extra slippery sides mean for trapezing tho?

[TornadoSport260]

Its called grip tape... you buy it from Whitworths or your local chandlery...

I don't trapeze without grip tape, regardless of a polished boat or not.

[slammer]

"to sum up ... clean the boat and clean out your system."

What, you guys use grip-tape after taking a dump. Whoa that's sure to lift performance to a new(er) level.

I've just washed down the old Turb 14 with 30sec detergent, hit the now white hulls with 320, then 600 and they feel smooth and look good. Then hit the top decks with restorer wax. It looks good and I can have my beaded water fix by looking at the tops of the deck.

I'm happy with the outcome and i'm really more concerned with tuning the rudders and keeping the hulls nice and tight.

[Fluid_Drive]

Ok question i'm going to be repainting my cat, now im going to use a west systems epoxy based primer and overcoat. now the question i have is is there a great benefit to spraying on the epoxy resin in lieu of using a roller. now i know with great care rolling paint on can produce a really good effect. Now referring to the previous posts about a dimpled surface being more hydro dynamically more efficient. Now could you roll on the paint and then rub back with a fine wet and dry sandpaper???

any help would be greatly appreciated

cheers

alex

[joclo]

Unless you start playing with polymer paints best option is Durepox Semi Gloss, the following boats cant be too wrong

Team NZ Tp52

Team Origin Tp52

BMW Oracle

X40 Class Catamarans

Ran 2

Hugo Boss 2

AC Class Boats

Artemis Tp52

Farr 40 Class OD

RC 44's

DNA Catamarans

Shogun

Alpha Romeo

Shockwave

Team China AC

Team Prada

[Fluid_Drive]

Thanks for that what type of base is that paint? is it an epoxy? and can it be rolled on rather than sprayed?

thanks

[joclo]

Durepox paints and coatings

Durepox is a unique marine paint. It can be used as a high-build, a primer and a topcoat all in one, saving litres and hence kilograms worth of paint layers - making your boat lighter and therefore (importantly!) faster in the water.

It's an epoxy urethane which means it's extremely hard while still being flexible and highly durable - perfect for the marine environment (as well as an array of other applications). Durepox has superior adhesion to carbon fibre, fibreglass, wood and concrete. Professional boat builders / painters value Durepox's fast dry properties, sandability after three hours with no shrink back, and the ability to apply a further coats without sanding between dry times.

Durepox is used as a topcoat on racing boats because it has an excellent ability to provide a water barrier and withstand the harsh affects of the weather and marine environment. In results done by Otago Flume Laboratory they found that its satin finish gave a 15% less drag coefficient that a high gloss surface.

[yarra bay]

and it looks great as well

[knobblyoldjimbo]

There's an interesting thread on Sailing Anarchy forums (fixit anarchy I think). What they're saying is that if you spray epoxy in anything but perfect conditions (ie a proper paint shop in a proper ventilation suit) you're going to have trouble. Things like epoxy curing in your lungs, on your car etc etc.

Roll and tip I think!

[Fluid_Drive]

Thanks for the advice I'm now trying to source the paint, and lots of rollers to begin the repainting process.

cheers

alex

[knobblyoldjimbo]

Did you get some Durepox. I've just had a look around and it's $50 for a litre except the minimum is six litres (4 of durepox then one each of the hardener and thinner). Could buy a nother Maricat for that!!

Other sites, like Sailing Anarchy talk of buffing to 2000 grit anyway! Hard though apparently.

[Fluid_Drive]

Gday, i havent bought my paint yet, but given that its for a hydra i don't think i will go to that extreme with Durepox. I tried to find a dealer in Aus through there website, but i couldn't find anyone locally. I think a West System will do me fine, and ill be sanding the hulls with 2000 grit once i have finished. I have spent most of my time removing excess gel coat (seems like the bloke before had a fairly big tin of it) and getting rid of ever single scratch out of the hulls. For removing the dimpling that a roller produces can you orbital sand the hulls until they are gone then use a manual method to get the longitudinal grain in the paint??

Best wishes

Alex

[tonyquoll]

At this year's Paper Tiger nationals, I fixed up some dings then sanded to 2000grit. I sanded centreboards to 800, to encourage more laminar flow.

Meanwhile the Andersons used Turtle Wax to polish their hulls.

I was very quick in light winds (but I am very light) and generally had good speed in all winds. The Andersons went badly in light winds and were incredibly quick in strong winds (but they are heavy).

Psst: dont tell them, I still want to beat them in light winds

[Loose Change]

All things being equall I tend to think that you would have had the more efficient boat, as for for being the faster boat, now that's a whole new ballgame.

Beating anyone in any kind of competition is all about mindset and mental preparedness. You should already know how to set up your boat for the prevailing conditions.

I have a book by a Sydney based psychologist, Edward Leong called "A Beginners Guide to Master Grade Shooting" now don't let the title put you off because in reality it has nothing to do with shooting but everything to do with mental attitude. Eddie wrote the book directing it to the shooting fraternity because he is/was a shootist who used to contest the extremely difficult to master service rifle discipline.

enjoy, Harry

[Paul124ac]

.... Air riding over pockets of air is far more efficient that air over a huge bald surface. .

That's why I sail with a hat on.

Seriously, wet sanding works. Used to do this when sailing 14ft skiffs, sand until the water sticks to the surface. As for polish, I've tried all sorts, Mothers, Meguiars, Kitten blah blah but bang for buck the SCA marine stuff works just as well for 1/4 of the price. Had a nice solo jolly on the Hydra today, polished the decks and removed old gungy grip tape recently and just as my legs went either side of the stay while on the trap I remembered why I went to the club, with a new roll. You gotta grab the nice conditions when you can!