Awl Grip / Awl Care

[Wahoo Sails]

Our boat had the hull painted with Awl Grip some years before we bought it. By the time we got around to trying to save the paint .. it was looking pretty sorry (see "Before" below). I'm more than a little skeptical when a manufacture say's that their propriatery maintainence product is the only thing you should use, doubly so when the stuff is expensive ... but the literature from Awl Grip made good sense to me .. so I bought some "Awl Care".
We washed the hull with nothing more exotic than plain old boat soap, then I applied the Awl Care as per the directions ... the results were eye popping!

Application was simple & easy, the results ... stunning. For those keen eyed observers, yes the before photo is the port side, the after photo is the starboard side ... didn't think to take a before shot of the starboard side .. but the results remain the same. This product gets a 5 star rating from us!
Plan to send 2 of our sails to "Sail Care" this week ... have seen the results of their process on others sails, and want it done to ours ... and they are offering a 15% discount till the end of the year. We will report back when we see how this goes.

L S/V Sew Good

Bob & Lynn

WOW!
How much elbow grease was required?

[Wahoo Sails]

Oh ... just a small bucket full It goes on and comes off like a liquid wax, really not bad at all.

Bob & Lynn

L S/V Sew Good

[capt lar]

Awlcare is described as a polymer sealer that will remove mild stains and then protect. You raised my hopes, but I don't think it will help with scratches or scuffs. What were the marks on your hull from ? It certainly looks great.

By the way, you were urged to use Awlwash prior to Awlcare.

capt. lar

[Jon D]

capt lar once whispered in the wind:


By the way, you were urged to use Awlwash prior to Awlcare.

capt. lar

When we had the boat awlgriped a couple of years ago they said those two are the only products to use. I have found they both work as advertised and when I run out of awlwash and have used Joy it does not work quite as well.

Another trick on the hull side is to dump an ounce or so of awlcare into a final rinse and rinse the hullsides with this as it adds a slight coat of awlcare to the paint.

[Wahoo Sails]

Yeah ..... I know about Awlwash ... couldn't see how that could be a big improvement over boat soap, so skipped it. There are numerous "battle scars" on the hull, some from fenders that were left in place for 3+ years, some from scrapes against pilings. Obviously, nothing is going to replace paint that has been scraped away ... but the Awl Care DID make them MUCH less obvious ... the whole point of this post was to let people with Awl Grip on their boat know that Awl Care really works as advertised, and is worth the money.

Bob & Lynn

L S/V Sew Good

[capt lar]

Some of your old marks did look like scrapes, so it clearly reduced them. Amazing before and after shots. My curse is dark awlgrip over white gelcoat. As awlgrip ages evenly, it looks pretty good, but when you get a long scratch in a newer job, it really shows. My yard has suggested polymers as a possible improvement. Dark colors are tough - big news.

capt. lar