Will your product work on faded metal flake

Skipper July 17, 2012 Ask The Skipper

David Gillman asked:

I am restoring a 1986 Baja Sport 160 16′ Speedboat. The hull is gorgeous, but the top is very faded, oxidized in one corner, and rough other than in the oxidized area. I believe the top layer of clear gel coat is mostly gone and the metal flake color layer is showing. How well will your product work on my boat? If it works well, how many ounces of your product do I need to buy for the boat?

Answer:

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The condition of your boat for the age is not uncommon, but it’s a tough problem. The clear gelcoat has been burned off by the sun. Metalflake uses small particles of aluminum to create the glitter effect and the clearcoat allows the UV rays to penetrate and reflect back off the aluminum to attack the clearcoat from underneath as well as from the top. If it’s not well protected with a good UV polish it will break down. The rough surface that you feel is the mixture of colored gelcoat and aluminum metal particles. If one corner is faded, that tells me that part of the boat was kept in the shade while the faded corner was constantly exposed to sunlight. You may or may not be able to bring back the color, depending on how deep the fading is.

Our products may help but will not give you a long term solution. Boat Scrub is proven effective at restoring faded gelcoat, providing that there is color left below the surface, it will also help to smooth out the rough metalflake. The best product that I have ever seen to bring back faded, damaged metalflake is Kwik Shine. Dealers use it to detail boats when nothing else will work. If it works for you, you will have to re-apply it every few weeks to keep the surface shiny and protected. The good news is that it is a spray and wipe product so that it is quick and easy.

The right way to restore the boat is to refinish the clearcoat. I don’t know of anyone that sprays clear gelcoat and most try to use automotive clearcoat. The problem is that automotive clearcoat is not very durable and does not stand up to the marine environment for very long. It starts to break down in 12 to 18 months.

If you want to try our products, one bottle of each should be enough. It may make the boat good enough without spending the big dollars to do it right.

Thanks for your question,

Captain Aurora
Richard Kittar