I’ve been through a lot of different waxes and treatments for boats that always seem to take forever to apply, or have some catch. I recently had my boat out of the water, and the cockpit and rest of the deck really needed some help after having been exposed to the elements for a year without much other than the usual wash down.
Enter Collinite – I saw this stuff at Fisheries Supply and read a bunch about it online. I started with Fiberglass Boat Cleaner No. 920 and then applied Paste Fleetwax No. 885.
The Boat Cleaner is designed to strip away any discoloration and restore the gelcoat – it was nearly instantaneous, and very easy to do. I started by using a paper towel to apply it, and then a clean one to wipe it off, which brought with it a lot of dirt and cleared out the “pores” of the fiberglass. I ended up using a stiff brush as the project progressed, and paper towels to clean it up once the brush loosened up things.
It took a fraction of the time for this part than any of the other systems I’ve used, and the fiberglass looked amazing, even at this stage.
The Paste Fleetwax is really thick stuff, and is really easy to apply as well. Wipe on, let it dry a bit, and then buff it to a shine. It really seems to work well with the Fiberglass Boat Cleaner to form a very tough shell.
All in all, it still took a good solid day to do all of the top of the boat, but I spent a long, long time in the cockpit doing every last inch of it – even in the corners and such, which I didn’t do with previous solutions.
The only issue was that for the first day or so, any surface that had been waxed was AMAZINGLY slippery – very dangerous – far more slippery than anything I had ever seen. Since I waxed all of the non-slip tread as well, it made for a very difficult time moving around the boat.
Since the treatment, things have continued to look really good. I am waiting to see how it looks over the summer and with use. Definitely would recommend their products for ease of use and initial quality.
