Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
If the gelcoat isn't worn through, DO NOT PAINT! Use light-duty compound if necessary to remove oxidation and restore the color, and then pick your top-coat, wax or Poli Glow (a polymer finish that has worked well for many of us with old boats--do a Search on "Poli" on the C-25 forum for many lively discussions).
IMHO, if you paint a fiberglass boat, you will deal with chips, scratches, and peeling forever after. Re-painting can't be successful without complete removal--otherwise you have craters in the finish. I you paint to change colors (such as white to Flag Blue), every ding will haut you forever after.
Gelcoat is generally very restorable... Painting over it can destroy the value of a boat. Or to put it another way, I wouldn't buy a fiberglass boat that somebody painted. But I'm just a sample of one.
If you click on the signature pic of my (prior) '85 C-25', you can see some reflection of the fenders on the hull... That was Poli Glow. It wasn't a mirror, but it was easy to do, long-lasting, low maintenance, and looked good in the marina.
What is the reason (short hand) for not using poli I imagine buffing vs Dding a polymer layer is their reasoning...
Most C-250s have relatively new gelcoat that is intrinsically glossy, so wax and buffing will bring out the best shine.
Older C-25s tend to have more weathered, oxidized gelcoat, so it can take substantially more work to bring them back with a buffer and wax. Poli Glow is for that case... It takes about five coats to get a nice, even shine, but you just wipe it on with their chamois-type applicator, one coat right after the other, and the whole job can take as little as a couple of hours--no buffing. The result is not as mirror-bright as a great wax job, but it lasts longer. At the beginning of each successive season, one quick coat, plus a little more in high wear areas such as where fenders hang, can be all you need. Some have found that after 5-8 years, they want to remove it all (with PG's cleaner) and start over--not that big a project.
See, that's what I mean by a "mirror finish" on a C-250--easy to accomplish on a newer hull, and possible for a obsessed owner of an older one. To me, a boat looks fine not looking like glossy plastic. Others are proud of their gloss... To each his own.
I now have a 20 year history of using PolyGlow on two boats and have never had a problem with yellowing or anything else. Just a mild detergent washing once a year and one new coat.
I also agree (obviously), but I'm not a gloss-fanatic. I think of PG as a "semi-gloss" finish--not what you want for a new car, but fully appropriate for an old boat.
ok im sold on the PG but what about the discoloration around the area where the name was. what do you use to remove that. If you poly glo over that it will still be yellowed right
Yes, Poli Glow will immortalize whatever you have, including any marks you don't remove. What you have there is oxidation around the name, and less (or no) oxidation where it was. I think you have essentially three choices:
1. Compound the whole hull, or a large area around the name, to remove the surface both under and around the name, exposing uniform, fresh gelcoat.
2. Put your new name where the old one was, and expect the contrast of the new one to obscure the faint shadows of the old one.
3. Fuggetaboutit. You're the only one who knows or cares. A nice shine will make things reflect enough to obscure the faint shadow of the old name. (Can you see anything under the reflection of the pickup truck in the photo above?)
If the shadow is on the transom, wash, but don't wax or PG the transom for a year or two, and the gloss where the old name used to be will dull enough naturally so that it won't show anymore. When I changed the name of my boat, I put the new name on over the old one, and left it unwaxed over the winter, and the glossiness of the old name faded away during one winter.
Be careful though, this stuff will eat any copper in your bottom paint and discolor (or worse) your painted or galvanized trailer. Read the entire label.
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.