DIY Ceramic Coating?

[anmut]

Anyone have experience doing a DIY ceramic coating to their boat and recommendations on the procedure and correct chemicals? I'm considering coating below the rub rail because our tannic river water is really great at adding a scum line from the rear seats to the transom area when we're at the sandbar.

Would be weird to have just a portion coated?
Prep for fiberglass?
Which kit to use?

 

[suke]

Man this is a tough one to answer with an easy step by step "do this and you'll have amazing results". It's super easy to put on just about any publicly available ceramic coating. The trick is in the prep and how far to you want to go? Do you have polishers/polishing equipment as well as polishes? Do you care about that route or are you just looking to put something on? My recommendation to nearly everyone is unless you REALLY want to go down the rabbit hole of putting on a ceramic coating with all the prep and then taking care of it the way it needs to be is just go with a decent spray ceramic. The trick is likely going to be a full wash down every trip and using something like Hot Sauce rather than a ceramic coating. I use hot sauce every single time I take my boat out at the ramp. That way the work is largely done before I get home. Otherwise I do a full hand wash and dry when I get home. I don't think a ceramic coating will keep that stuff off. It MAY make it easier to clean, but won't keep it off. I would get a scum line even with a ceramic coating. Just washed off easier.

With that being said one of my favorite marine ceramic coatings is from Shine Supply.

Shine Supply Beadlock Pro Marine - 50 ml

Protect your gelcoat for 2 years! An incredible amount of protection and gloss.

www.detailedimage.com

Good spray ceramics can be had from just about any decent detail supply: Adams, Griots, CarPro, Gyeon, etc.

Ceramics are definitely not a silver bullet and in some cases not worth that hassle. This is coming from someone that puts them on everything they have. I haven't installed a new ceramic coating on my boat in a few years now and likely won't. Keeping it clean and topped up with something like hot sauce or a spray ceramic is enough for me. I polish my boat every other season then put another spray ceramic on it.

 

[lazergeek]

I personally used HydroSilex myself the day I brought my boat home from the dealer in 2020 and used their prep spray. Its has worked great and I reapply another coat every year, it was still beading up and rolling off when I re apply. I changed my re coats to 303 Graphene Nano Spray about 2 years ago. My current coat has been over a year and a half and it still beading up water and running off like day 1. Prep is the key factor to get any old wax and oils off before applying. My re applying Im just spraying on, rubbing in, the follow up with a quick polish a few minutes later with a clean rag.

 

[anmut]

This is great info, thanks! My hull care is a good wash and wax with a pure carnauba - after boat care is a wipedown with Boat Juice products. However that damn scum line still gets me...

Maybe i'm using the wrong wax...

 

[lazergeek]

You will have to strip all the wax off before you can apply ceramic

 

[suke]

This is great info, thanks! My hull care is a good wash and wax with a pure carnauba - after boat care is a wipedown with Boat Juice products. However that damn scum line still gets me...

Maybe i'm using the wrong wax...

Carnauba is old school and doesn't last very long. Find either a synthetic type sealant or ceramic infused spray sealant. Can't swing a dead cat without hitting a bunch of decent ones. I find it harder to get pure carnaubas now a days than I do synthetic sealants or ceramics.

 

[anmut]

Carnauba is old school and doesn't last very long. Find either a synthetic type sealant or ceramic infused spray sealant. Can't swing a dead cat without hitting a bunch of decent ones. I find it harder to get pure carnaubas now a days than I do synthetic sealants or ceramics.

That's my issue - too many choices. All look great, but very little real world usage for my kind of needs. @FSH 210 Sport made a great recommendation that's in my Amazon cart.

 

[suke]

That's my issue - too many choices. All look great, but very little real world usage for my kind of needs. @FSH 210 Sport made a great recommendation that's in my Amazon cart.

303 is decent. I've had one of my buddies complain about it saying it was greasy and hard to apply. I haven't personally used it, but if you don't like it Adams polishes has a graphene ceramic spray. They're generally pretty user friendly.

 

[Spooky pantz]

I just did mine recently. Here is what I used:

• Washed and clay bar (used a speed clay)
• Light buff/correct with Sonax perfect finish
• Prepped surface with carpro eraser spray
• Applied Gtechniq EXO ceramic (1 coat)
• They also have a dedicated marine base and top coat but the regular EXO seemed to work for me in the past

 

[yall_mahaw]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but this seems like a good discussion on ceramics and the prep work. I consider myself a hobbyist when it comes to detailing our cars and like to keep the boat looking good as well. Hand wash a few times during the season and a Hot Sauce spray and wipe after every outing.

My questions for the group are more around polishing /. correcting. Is my automotive random orbital with an orange pad up to the task? I know that the gel coat is a different beast from the clear coat on a car and so far my trial and error work has been inconclusive. I do get some shine, but am not sure that it is doing much to the RIDS than i see on the gel coat. Open to suggestions!

 

[suke]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but this seems like a good discussion on ceramics and the prep work. I consider myself a hobbyist when it comes to detailing our cars and like to keep the boat looking good as well. Hand wash a few times during the season and a Hot Sauce spray and wipe after every outing.

My questions for the group are more around polishing /. correcting. Is my automotive random orbital with an orange pad up to the task? I know that the gel coat is a different beast from the clear coat on a car and so far my trial and error work has been inconclusive. I do get some shine, but am not sure that it is doing much to the RIDS than i see on the gel coat. Open to suggestions!

Depends on what polisher you have. The pad combo also depends on how aggressive of a polish you have. Generically speaking I use my large throw orbital with a microfiber cutting pad and a decent cut polish. I follow that with a foam hybrid or low cut pad with a finishing polish to clean up the first polish stage. That will take care of all minor RIDS or swirls that are there. You could probably get rid of 80% of the swirls with a light cut polish and light cut pad.

 

[steelhorse454]

Anyone have experience doing a DIY ceramic coating to their boat and recommendations on the procedure and correct chemicals? I'm considering coating below the rub rail because our tannic river water is really great at adding a scum line from the rear seats to the transom area when we're at the sandbar.

Would be weird to have just a portion coated?
Prep for fiberglass?
Which kit to use?

I used GlideCoat and di my whole boat before splashing it for the firs time. Very easy to do since my boat was new, wipe on 3x3 section, wipe off.
Then I got the maintenance spray since then. Happy with this product.

 

[suke]

I used GlideCoat and di my whole boat before splashing it for the firs time. Very easy to do since my boat was new, wipe on 3x3 section, wipe off.
Then I got the maintenance spray since then. Happy with this product.

some jackwagon took a rotary buffer to my boat. So brand new it was swirled to shit. Fortunately I have all the equipment and experience to fix all of that stuff, but even new boats/cars can come severely damaged from the factory or from dealer handy work.

 

[steelhorse454]

some jackwagon took a rotary buffer to my boat. So brand new it was swirled to shit. Fortunately I have all the equipment and experience to fix all of that stuff, but even new boats/cars can come severely damaged from the factory or from dealer handy work.

ouch !

 

[TeenGee]

I used this to clean parts of my boat before I waxed. I really could feel a difference.