Painting fiberglass boats is a huge business. The development of high-gloss, long-lived polyurethanes means you can get multiple years out of a paint job. But a good paint job can be breathtakingly expensive, and a single careless docking can mar that beautiful finish. Better by far is a program of gelcoat maintenance that preserves the finish your boat came with for as long as possible. Whether it’s topsides or super-structure, your gelcoat surfaces will last a long, long time if properly cared for.
Caring for the top-sides of your boat is labor-intensive, but can easily be adopted even by inexperienced sailors. All the materials are available at marine stores anywhere in the world. You will use less than $50 in materials a year with this program, but don’t bother putting a price on your labor.
The first step in any topside maintenance program is to remove dirt and salt. When Nick Nicholson’s Calypso arrived in Oman on the Arabian Peninsula after crossing the Indian Ocean, she was so encrusted with salt that you could literally scrape it off every exposed surface of the boat with a putty knife. Unfortunately, salt attracts dirt, so after the first Middle Eastern dust storm the boat was a pretty sad sight, more reddish-brown than sparkling white.
With any luck, you won’t be faced with this type of mess, particularly if you have little water to spare to clean it up, as we did. However, any dirt and salt left on any gelcoat or painted surface will hasten its demise. Start by washing the topsides with a powerful cleaner-degreaser such as Simple Green. We use a very concentrated solution at this stage, scrubbing hard with a clean, large sponge. Rinse this sponge often in a separate bucket of water so you’re not just moving the salt and dirt around on the surface. Rinse the surface thoroughly with clean water, and wipe relatively dry with a synthetic chamois or clean towel, just as you would do if washing a car. Drying will minimize water spotting.
Once this is done you can go on to gelcoat repairs, polishing, and waxing.
The keys to gelcoat maintenance are: keep it clean, keep it waxed, and repair dings in a timely fashion. Polish no more frequently than is absolutely necessary, and then use the least abrasive material that will do the job.
If you get to the point where you need to use rubbing compound rather than polishing compound to remove oxidation and restore gloss, you’re not washing and waxing frequently enough.
For more on the care and cleaning of your gelcoat, purchase and download the Practical Sailor ebook Gelcoat Restoration & Maintenance today.
Want to read about the cleaning and maintenance of all your boating surfaces? Available for purchase and download is Practical Sailor’s ebook series, Marine Cleaners. This three volume set contains the ebooks Gelcoat Restoration & Maintenance, Essential Marine Cleaners and Specialty Marine Cleaners.
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