Compounding & waxing didn't help...

[SVRocinante]

Ok folks, here's the scoop!

As some of you know, I just had Rocinante pulled to repair a leaking thru-hull and figured that since I had paid to haul, I might as well make the most of it and have her prettied up as well!

I replaced the zincs, reattached the boot on the saildrive and I also had Rocinante "professionally" compounded and waxed.... while, in general, she looks great, I was not pleased with the results at the waterline.

Specifically, the dark blue still has a white "haze" in areas.



The fellow that did the work said it will not come off and that I would have to have the lines re-painted. Since I'm not sure what causes it, I'm not buying it... just yet. If the entire stripe was faded, I'd say ok, but not knowing any better, it still looks to me like it's "something" on the surface of the paint that should come off.

Does anyone have first hand experience with this?
Any thoughts on what I should try or is it in fact the paint that needs to be redone.

As always, Thank you!

[Suijin]

I'm pretty sure that your boot stripe is not paint, it's applied vinyl. It's wearing through the pigment on the surface. Polishing will usually clean dirt and stains off vinyl but at the expense of making it both more porous as well as faded.

[Cheechako]

If it's vinyl, that's the problem. If paint, yes that should have come off. Be aware that some yards call "compounding and polishing" simply buffing with 3M Finesse It, wax, or etc. Compounding is a lot more work.

[Flyingriki]

If it's vinyl, replace it. If paint, need to polish it carefully, by hand, in line with the stripe or you smear blue on the white and it's hard to remove. Try a small area with a polishing compound. Have had to do mine too. Easier on the hard....
Good luck.

[SaylorMade]

Originally Posted by Suijin

I'm pretty sure that your boot stripe is not paint, it's applied vinyl. It's wearing through the pigment on the surface. Polishing will usually clean dirt and stains off vinyl but at the expense of making it both more porous as well as faded.

Isn't vinyl coloured all the way through?
I have never seen vinyl with pigment just on the "surface" ?

[SVRocinante]

Thanks folks - can't believe that I don't know if my stripe is vinyl or paint, but will certainly find out... simply assumed it was paint and never checked.

Assuming it's paint, I'll try to do a small area myself as Flyingriki suggested and see what happens.

Thanks again for the input!

[Scaramanga F25]

If gelcoat it may be faded through I have recently sanded and painted.
Easy looks fabulous. Also, I have done this on another boat years ago and
lasted well. Need at least 2-3 coats.

[Ardbeg]

While on the subject I will ask a similar question. When going down the St Lawrence River this summer, I apparently went thru raw sewage in Montréal. Apparently from Ottawa where sewage systems overflowed during flooding in the spring. I now have a brown stain on the gelcoat of the bow. What will remove it? Compound? It does not change with pressure wash and scrubbing with soap.
Thanks
s/v Ardbeg

[Scaramanga F25]

Probably a stain from decaying logs. Same as in the yellow smile from the
Intracoastal Waterway.
Use "Phospho" stain & rust remover Wipe on gone. Carefull.
Like magic. It is a diluted phosphoric acid.

[roverhi]

Doubt it was sewage but chemical or petroleum pollution that caused the staining. Might try oxalic acid or other fiberglass cleaners/bleaches. Failing that, compounding and polishing the area may clear it up. Be careful with compounding as that is actually removing Gelcoat and too vigorous work with the buffer could burn through.

[Ardbeg]

Thanks for advice. I assumed sewage as one could see the same floating in the water. We had 100 year floods this spring. I do not think there has been pulp and paper operations for 20 years so I do not think it is wood stain! One can see the dividing line on Lake St Louis between the clean water and from Lake Ontario and the filth from the Ottawa R. I do not think it could be heavy industry although it could be from farming operations. Obviously there is a joke here as all this comes from the politicians in Ottawa however I still have to get it cleaned.

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by SVRocinante

Ok folks, here's the scoop!

As some of you know, I just had Rocinante pulled to repair a leaking thru-hull and figured that since I had paid to haul, I might as well make the most of it and have her prettied up as well!

I replaced the zincs, reattached the boot on the saildrive and I also had Rocinante "professionally" compounded and waxed.... while, in general, she looks great, I was not pleased with the results at the waterline.

Specifically, the dark blue still has a white "haze" in areas.



The fellow that did the work said it will not come off and that I would have to have the lines re-painted. Since I'm not sure what causes it, I'm not buying it... just yet. If the entire stripe was faded, I'd say ok, but not knowing any better, it still looks to me like it's "something" on the surface of the paint that should come off.

Does anyone have first hand experience with this?
Any thoughts on what I should try or is it in fact the paint that needs to be redone.

As always, Thank you!

Depends what it is.

If paint, it should compound, polish, and wax real nice.

If vinyl, a machine will burn it up if not careful, but at low speed, compound polish and wax should work fine.

If gelcoat, dark colours are tough. If it was heavily faded/oxidized it can take a fairly aggressive wet sand (perhaps even 2 passes), compound, polish, and wax.

Beware who you call a "pro". One poorly qualified who accepts pay for work is a "schmo" not a "pro".

What were their qualifications?

(No I'm not kidding.) We get several calls a year to repair gelcoat wrecked by "Schmos".

Some of our best customers are those whose boats we have fixed from "concrete like" residues, to swirls, to burns, to excessive gelcoat removal,
to just all around poor results.

I actually saw a boat after a guy paid to have it "deep cleaned". WTF is that? They ran a machine over it with something. Didn't even wash it first. All kinds of swirls ground into the gelcoat from pad contamination. Just a disaster.

Always ask to see qualifications and insurance from anyone you hire to work on your boat. Even at a well known yard; ask who will actually be performing the work, what their qualifications are, and if none, or limited, who is the senior tech over seeing and final approving the job.

Ask them to include the process and materials they will be using in the itemized written work order. Ask what results are to be expected, how long it will retain what level of gloss and what ongoing maintenance will be required how frequently.

I'm serious. Schmo gelcoat damage can cost several thousand to repair. Sometime the only solution is to re gelcoat or paint, that can be tens of thousands.

Lastly, a "pro" will use the least aggressive method and materials to achieve spectacular results. It will be costly because it takes longer, but it will look nicer, longer, and will increase the life expectancy of the gelcoat overall.

[thunderhoof]

The stripes may be gelcoat done in the mold with the finish coat. My experience with faded colored gelcoat is - give up and have it painted in Awlgrip. I spent two years trying to get my dark gelcoat hull looking good without success.

[minaret]

Guess based on experience-somebody painted the boot stripe with single part paint.

[puffcard]

That's the work of a term I use, YAMBY
Young
American
Motherwhater
Building
Yachts

That dam Yamby screwed that up.

My bet it's a vinyl tape, just use a quality vinyl cleaner. Like 3M marine vinyl cleaner or wet-n-forget.