Ceol Mor had a life long before our stewardship and hopefully, she will have a long life after our time with her. While some items on Ceol Mor have suffered from previous owners attempts at maintaining her (nobody is perfect after all), there are plenty of areas where you can tell she was well loved (the interior for one). Since we want to be certain that when Ceol Mor leaves our care she is in better condition than when we got her we always do our utmost to use the best practices to keep her as close to Bristol as we possibly can. Okay, so right now she's not exactly Bristol fashion yet but she is well on her way.
With this in mind, we did careful research on how to best keep her Awlgrip painted hull shiny and pristine. After much research, we decided to take the hit to the pocket book that using the manufacturers recommended cleaning product Awl Care would entail. Boat soap is cheap, Awl Care, not so much but if that is what will best care for her paint job then so be it.
We carefully followed the directions, washing with Awlwash then painstakingly applying the Awlcare inch by inch, buffing by hand as directed. It worked beautifully at removing the dirt streaks from the hull and shining her up to a glossy finish. We were chuffed!
Imagine our disappointment after that expense and great effort to find that while Awlcare does in fact clean as directed, the protective polymer coating actually attracts dirt and soot. Quickly. I suppose its smart marketing on Awlgrip's part. Yes, Awlcare works but if you aren't willing to spend 5-6 hours twice a week and a bunch of cash to continually use it your hull will look worse than it did before. We are down with spending time cleaning the boat but not hand buffing a 42 foot boat non-stop. We'd like to you, know, have time to actually SAIL. Regular cleaning is fine, as is buffing the entire boat every month or so but this photo shows what happens just a week after polishing the hull and after regular cleaning.
I told Mark that someone, somewhere has the answer to our dilemma we just haven't come across it yet. We have a metric butt load of readers and I am really hoping that one of you out there has a workable solution for us. There has to be an easier way. If it weren't so darned hot, I'd just paint the hull Flag Blue and be done with chasing streaks.*sigh*
In other spic and span obsession news, Mark continues to try every device known to man to keep birds and their accompanying poop off the boat. I long ago made peace with the fact that the only workable answer was to shoo them as often as possible and just be prepared to clean the decks. This is our plastic owl, which Mark continues to cling to despite having given up on a Bird Spider, bits of metallic tape and numerous other bird frightening implements both purchased and built. Mark is still not taking my advice. What we need is a cat. A big old boat cat. Anything else is folly.
With this in mind, we did careful research on how to best keep her Awlgrip painted hull shiny and pristine. After much research, we decided to take the hit to the pocket book that using the manufacturers recommended cleaning product Awl Care would entail. Boat soap is cheap, Awl Care, not so much but if that is what will best care for her paint job then so be it.
We carefully followed the directions, washing with Awlwash then painstakingly applying the Awlcare inch by inch, buffing by hand as directed. It worked beautifully at removing the dirt streaks from the hull and shining her up to a glossy finish. We were chuffed!
Imagine our disappointment after that expense and great effort to find that while Awlcare does in fact clean as directed, the protective polymer coating actually attracts dirt and soot. Quickly. I suppose its smart marketing on Awlgrip's part. Yes, Awlcare works but if you aren't willing to spend 5-6 hours twice a week and a bunch of cash to continually use it your hull will look worse than it did before. We are down with spending time cleaning the boat but not hand buffing a 42 foot boat non-stop. We'd like to you, know, have time to actually SAIL. Regular cleaning is fine, as is buffing the entire boat every month or so but this photo shows what happens just a week after polishing the hull and after regular cleaning.
 |
| Exhaust soot staining the Awlcare polished hull after about 15 minutes of engine run time. :( |
I told Mark that someone, somewhere has the answer to our dilemma we just haven't come across it yet. We have a metric butt load of readers and I am really hoping that one of you out there has a workable solution for us. There has to be an easier way. If it weren't so darned hot, I'd just paint the hull Flag Blue and be done with chasing streaks.*sigh*
In other spic and span obsession news, Mark continues to try every device known to man to keep birds and their accompanying poop off the boat. I long ago made peace with the fact that the only workable answer was to shoo them as often as possible and just be prepared to clean the decks. This is our plastic owl, which Mark continues to cling to despite having given up on a Bird Spider, bits of metallic tape and numerous other bird frightening implements both purchased and built. Mark is still not taking my advice. What we need is a cat. A big old boat cat. Anything else is folly.
Grrr! I am convinced that in the marine world, marketing is everything so they can slap a hefty pricetag on any product, whether it works or not. Have you called their 'tech support', if it does, indeed exist? I wonder if plain old boat wax would work better. But then, I have absolutely no idea what Moonrise has on her hull.
ReplyDeleteSince they were the brainiacs who recommended Awlcare in the first place, no. They are no suspect!
DeleteWe are at one with the bird poop now :)
ReplyDeleteCats for everyone!
DeleteIn San Jose del Cabo, the birds landed on our mast, ripped the arrow off the windex, and threw it in the water. No joke. After that, a little poop on the boat sometimes is no big deal. Perspective...
ReplyDeleteKeep some lemon juice (the cheap stuff from Walmart) in a spray bottle. Spray it on, let it sit for 1-2 minutes (or longer for really bad stains) and then rinse it off. As soon as you spray it on you should see the dirt start to slide off.
ReplyDeleteDeb
S/V Kintala
www.theretirementproject.blogspot.com
Ah ha! Not an idea I've hears as of yet! Is it safe on a painted hull?
DeleteGeesh what a mess! Maybe somekind of black plate can be attached right around the exhaust to hide the marks? I'm not sure as we will undoubtably always have marks on our boat. Just like the gap toothed models it'll give her character, we tell ourselves.
ReplyDeleteAs far the birds go. People here hang CD's from the rigging. We haven't had a total issue with birds yet so I'm not a good one to give advice. We do have some "traces" of bird presence, but it's not a ton and just matches every other imperfection on Sundowner.
Now, poop in the hair, that's a different story.
We have tried every invention known to man to scare the birds away and nothing has worked. I find Mark's obsession with keeping the boat bird free almost comical. He doesn't like my solution- get a cat. A mean, old angry tom cat. Problem solved.
DeleteAnd for once, our old war weary and battered boat has the advantage since if something craps on it, you can hardly tell. Just joking, but we don't clean her religiously since nothing is "bristol".
ReplyDeleteThis is the down side of living with an engineer with OCD. The upside, spectacular wiring, the downside- streaks and little messes make him have a sad.
Delete