Bottom Wax

RiverRat232

What do you use to wax/treat the bottom of your boat that helps keep off crud? I don't want to use bottom paint. Are there other products that you have had success with?

PickleRick

How long does your boat stay in the water? 

Any wax would be gone in a few miles....but it would look shiney while it lasted.

RiverRat232

During the boating season, I keep the boat at a marina. I haul it out every month or so and clean and inspect the bottom but it gets crapped up pretty fast. 

Black_Diamond

If the boat is in the water long I’m not sure any wax will solve the problem. 

If it is speed loss from bottom paint you fret about, use VC-17m for bottom paint. If it is the cost if bottom paint....different story. 

PickleRick

Ive heard new rinkers can be left in water without paint.  

Personally id barrier coat then ablative coat any boat that spends more than a month or two in the water at a time.

Regular scraping/cleaning by divers doesn't protect an unpainted hull from blisters like a proper bottom coat.

randy56

I tryed that a few years back when I keep my Rinker in without bottom paint, in the water all summer.  For one season, Sorry to report No luck, did not seem to make any difference. I'd pull it home once a month and clean the hull with toilet bowl cleaner, wax and put it back in, lot of work. I do not think the wax helped. The next year I trailer-ed every time. The Ohio river is nasty.  

RiverRat232

You're right @randy56. The Ohio River is pretty bad. We keep the boat at a marina in Cincinnati and I pulled it out every month or so to clean and inspect. It's amazing how crapped up the bottom got in just a few weeks. The fact that they are doing some dredging work in the vicinity made it worse.

Willhound

My 2000 is original gel coat bottom, no paint. I give it a good scrub whenever I can anchor at a shallow beach, otherwise it just gets pressure washed the day it is pulled in the fall. There is a permanent tea stain on the very bottom parts that I can't easily reach, but otherwise smooth and doesn't seem to affect performance. Anything visible I can reach gets acid washed in fall and a coat of wax applied, although this past year I started using a product called PoliGlow with good results. More of a polymer coating than a wax.

randy56

I just purchased my first polyglow kit, a week ago,  using on my new to me aluminum painted fishing boat. I'm impressed. a lot of you guy's were recommending it. Just curious if anyone has put it on the bottom? did it have long lasting results? or how does it do on plastic ? When I ask questions to the people at polyglow they always say try a small spot. come on man!

PickleRick

Id be interested in finding out how polyglow does.  I thinking maybe buy some cheap clear coat.  Wet sand, clean with alcohol and spray.  


Before it got too cold to wetsand i was removing what was left of my bottom paint.  I also have a few blisters to repair but nothing major.  

Willhound

Here is a link to my post last spring regarding PoliGlow with pics. https://rinkerboats.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/comment/114278#Comment_114278
However I didn't do right up under the hull so can't say how that would work or last. I didn't try any plastics either as there really isn't any but I did do the rubber strips around my glass and the aluminum/chrome frames and it worked well. Hull still looked shiny at the end of the year.

randy56

How does it look below the water line after sitting in the water all summer? That should show the same as the bottom. Here is and after picture of the back. Forgot to take a before picture. Because I didn't expect such great results. It's a 2008. My dash and glove box is plastic. And was curious  about the 115 Merc. the cover is plastic. 

Willhound

Not great pic's but the top shot obviously is fresh out of the water, pressure washed. The second is the same area after a light acid wash. I would have applied the PoliGlow back in spring down to the last strake. Cleaned much easier than past years and after the tea stain was removed it still shone. So won't prevent stain/build up maybe, but it's still on there. @randy56 the thermoplastic cowl and painted leg on the Merc outboard would look phenomenal. Not sure about the glove box, as they say "try a small area first". But I think it would work.

Willhound

I should add, maybe you can see why I resist bottom paint. That's a 20 year old hull and looks like new. I've never seen bottom paint I like. Granted, fresh water, not salt so not as many critters to grow on it.

RiverRat232

This product looks interesting. That is if it works as advertised. Can't find any real world reviews, though.
http://www.marinediscounters.com/aurora-boat-products-vs721-anti-fouling-wax-450ml-11120/

kordo

Willhound, I boat in Georgian Bay and like you just apply bottom wax at the beginning of the season and then acid wash at the end.  No problem after 3 seasons.  My boat is a 2011.  Previous owner did the same thing.

Dream_Inn

It seems that most chiming in that say just waxing or cleaning now and then have a couple things in common.  Fresh water use, shorter season, and colder water.  All 3 of those things make a huge difference (I'm probably starting the obvious).

I'm in brackish water and my season is about 8 months. Water temp gets in 80s by summer.  In one month, without paint, you'd have enough growth the boat may not even get on plane. If you have the option,  keeping a boat on a lift is a great option. 

Where do you boat?  What do other locals do?

randy56

@RiverRat232 I did not find a lot of reviews either, all were positive.  it has been around a while. Since at least 2008. It is a polymer based product. Here is a link to bottom paint alternatives. 
You will find VS712 on page 4.
https://georgiastrait.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Final_Summary_Alternatives_to_biocidal1.pdf