Polishing Awl Grip

[Charlie]

Hi All:

My boat is painted Midnight Blue with Awlgrip. Most people think it is black. It looked hideous. I didn't polish it (with the Awlgrip product) for two years and there were water stains etc on the boat. The paint job is 6 or 7 years old (done by previous owner) and I thought it was time to repaint. I tried to use the Awlgrip product. It didn't work worth a darn. I then started to get bids for repainting it.

A friend who is a painter said use your polisher with 3M fineseit II. I said that the instructions said not to -- Your going to repaint it anyway. What difference does it make.

Long story short -- I'm not going to have to repaint. I used my Makita polisher and it looks great. I imagine there is less life left in the paint then before I polished but it looks nice. Now I wonder what is the best wax to use to keep the shine? I am tending towards sticking with Maine Sails advice on product. Tips For Compound, Polish & Wax - SailNet Community

[ontherocks83]

can you post pictures, ive been looking into doing this but wasn't sure how the awl grip would turn out. Glad to hear you found something that works.

[Saltyhog]

Are you sure it's Awlgrip? AwlCraft-2000 is polishable. It's an acrylic and the color is through the entire thickness. You can bring it back with a fine cut polish or glaze. Awlgrip is not polishable. The surface is a very hard clear and the color is in the bottom of the paint layer. You'll burn through the surface shine and it may look good for a bit, but will soon dull (a lot).

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by Saltyhog

Are you sure it's Awlgrip? AwlCraft-2000 is polishable. It's an acrylic and the color is through the entire thickness. You can bring it back with a fine cut polish or glaze. Awlgrip is not polishable. The surface is a very hard clear and the color is in the bottom of the paint layer. You'll burn through the surface shine and it may look good for a bit, but will soon dull (a lot).

Good question? I went and looked at the purchase survey and found there that it says midnight blue International Paints LPU but I cannot find that that product exists. I guess I need to do some more research.

[tamicatana]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Good question? midnight blue International Paints LPU

AwlGrip is by AkzoNobel and I think it was owned by USPaints at one time

I've heard great things about Collinite boat waxes....

http://www.practical-sailor.com/blog...t-10430-1.html

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Hi All:

My boat is painted Midnight Blue with Awlgrip. Most people think it is black. It looked hideous. I didn't polish it (with the Awlgrip product) for two years and there were water stains etc on the boat. The paint job is 6 or 7 years old (done by previous owner) and I thought it was time to repaint. I tried to use the Awlgrip product. It didn't work worth a darn. I then started to get bids for repainting it.

A friend who is a painter said use your polisher with 3M fineseit II. I said that the instructions said not to -- Your going to repaint it anyway. What difference does it make.

Long story short -- I'm not going to have to repaint. I used my Makita polisher and it looks great. I imagine there is less life left in the paint then before I polished but it looks nice. Now I wonder what is the best wax to use to keep the shine? I am tending towards sticking with Maine Sails advice on product. Tips For Compound, Polish & Wax - SailNet Community

Your friend was right. When you have nothing else to lose, and the only other option is a new paint job, buff it. It can often buy you a few more years. The top layer is very hard and very thin so you often wind up buffing through it and into the pigment layer. This layer will shine up but will also dull quickly unless it has a wax or polymer on it.

That said if your Awlgrip is in good shape don't buff it or you can shorten the life.

Of course you may also have Imron or Awlcraft 2000 both of which are buffable..

This is typical buffing damage to Awlgrip. Note the dull area in the middle. The shiny areas were not buffed through but the dull area was.


Imron or Awlcraft 2000 on the other hand CAN be buffed and look like new again..

[ronbo1]

I had that dilemma too with the experts saying don't polish AwlGrip. Mine is dark green and 11 years old. I've used Awlwash religiously and Awlcare annually but lately couldn't remove the staining and restore the gloss.

With no alternative I recently polished using 3M's Restorer and Wax. It seems to be a little more aggressive than Finesse It and comes with wax added although I applied Awlcare polymer afterwards. There was a little oxidized finish removed but now it shines.

It remains to be seen how long it lasts. I can deal with an annual polishing.

Ronbo

[sbrin]

Try "REJEX" as your final coating. It is a polymer and does not contain any abrasives. Awlgrip rep gave me a thumbs up for this product and I have used this with success for many years. Also works wonderfully for my car's wheels, paint and windows. Not cheap, (about $20/bottle) but very worth it.

[ronbo1]

Thanks for the tip, sabrin. Just ordered some from Amazon.

Ronbo

[Opie91]

Rejex works great on aircraft cowls. It helps keep the exhaust from staining the paint. A little goes a long way.

[Charlie]

I'll have to look for Rejex and post pix

[Roy M]

Investigate the 3M products for restoring your LPU or acrylic finishes: Finesse-it Compounds and Polishes :3M US. This is a series of compounds and pads that takes the surface off in very controlled degrees, leaving a deep and lasting shine and extending the life of underlaying finishes.

[sailr69]

Originally Posted by Saltyhog

Are you sure it's Awlgrip? AwlCraft-2000 is polishable. It's an acrylic and the color is through the entire thickness. You can bring it back with a fine cut polish or glaze. Awlgrip is not polishable. The surface is a very hard clear and the color is in the bottom of the paint layer. You'll burn through the surface shine and it may look good for a bit, but will soon dull (a lot).

what? I don't think so

[MarkSF]

Which Awlgrip product are you referring to? There is Awlwash, for regular washing, and Awlcare which is a protective layer and makes it look shinier.

I just went over my Awlgrip topsides with both. The Awlcare has restored the shine nicely, although it was not bad to start with.

Yes, you should not polish Awlgrip, in the sense of using abrasive buffing compound or polish. You could apply wax by hand, but what would be the point? Awlcare would protect the surface better than wax.

Confession time : I applied the Awlcare with my Porter Cable random orbit buffer, BUT at the lowest speed.

[Charlie]

@MarkSF I applied awlcare and it worked pretty good. It wasn't very god at removing hardwater stains but kept the boat looking good. I neglected to do it for two years and I couldn't get the hard water stains off and the boat looks really bad. That is when I tried Finesse it II. Maybe I should have tried the awlcare with the buffer but I had problems removing the stains even with the Finesse it II. I am going to try Rejex after the Finesse it II. Hopefully I can put off painting for a couple of years.