Cleaning / Waxing Awlgripped Hull

Skipper April 6, 2005 Ask The Skipper

Peter Carson asked:

This will be our first spring prepping a C&C 35 for launch. When we purchased the boat last fall her red Awlgrip was 2 years old. During the winter the tarp covering the boat has chaffed an area that is dull. Do we use a rubbing compound to bring the scuffed area back ? What products do you recommend.

Thanks Peter

Answer:
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Rubbing compound will just make it more dull and eventually wear through the paint. You can not use wax to hide the scratch marks from the rubbing compound, Which is the usual procedure, as the wax will damage the Awlgrip paint. The reason that Awlgrip tells you not to put wax on their paint is that when the sun hits it, there is some reaction that causes the paint to blister. You can not do Awlgrip repairs the way you do gelcoat.

I recommend that you use Aurora Kwik Shine to restore the shine. You may have to go over it several times and use some aggressive rubbing, but you should be able to restore the shine. Wash the area first with a 1 to 4 solution of Aurora Boat Clean Plus. Spray the Kwik Shine directly on the affected area and rub out the dull area with a soft, clean cotton cloth. After, protect the rest of the Awlgrip with Kwik Shine and use this for ongoing protection. There is no Carnauba Wax in this product and it will not cause damage to the paint.

Yours is a common problem. That’s why many boat owners with painted hulls, cover the deck area with a tarp, but terminate the tarp at the toe rail. To give your hull some protection from the winter sun, give it a coat of Kwik Shine when you put her away and if there is a mild day mid way through the winter, another coat. In the spring, simply wash it with a 1 to 4 solution of Boat Clean Plus and re-apply 2 coats of Kwik Shine a minimum of 24 hours apart.

Thanks for your question,

Captain Aurora