Here are Bill and Pam on right in the heart of St. Petersburg where they moore their Morgan in the Municipal Marina. I spent a very nice day with them in Gulfport where we went to a Lions Club Shrimp Boil and then to O.Maddy's for drinks. A great spot to hang out on the Gulfport Waterfront. Click the title of this blog for a link.
Poliglow is Great if your boat is on a Lake but don't use it in a Saltwater environment!
3M is my wax of choice. Hard work but it looks great and last a full year.
You can see the reflection of the dock line hanging over the side after the 1st coat.
Here is a pic after the second coat, the reflection of the water across the topsides.
She looks much better now!
Now I need Mr. Miyagi for his magic hands for my aching muscles after the Wax on Wax Off!
Well I would be aboard for about 2 weeks while the Admiral returned to Austin for a Dr. appointment and spend some time with her parents. WS was looking like she needed some TLC after 1,126.2 Nm. of cruising so I made a short list of things to do while the Admiral is away. I also wanted to use the time to further explore the Tampa Bay area by truck. 1st on the list was to clean and wax the hull. I had made a horrible mistake and the 1st time I cleaned the hull, I applied a product called Poliglow. I had used Poliglow on our two previous boats with excellent results. It is a lot easier to apply and maintain than wax and it looks great. I did not know that it could not hold up to the harsh coastal environments though. After just 4 months the Poliglow started to wear away and I knew it was the wrong choice for such environments. The problem is it is not easy stuff to get off. I guy who details boats in Pensacola told me I would have to sand it off. Well I was not putting sand paper to the gelcoat on the topsides. So I figured I would just wait till most of it was worn off then use a 3M scrub pad to clean the rest off. By the time we got to Tampa Bay most had worn off & I wanted to get the ugly brown mustache stain off the bow that boats typically gather as they travel the muddy waters of the ICW. I also had a couple of boaters give me tips on how to remove the brown stain from the bow. One cruiser in Carrabelle advised to use Goof Off. I rarely like to use that stuff unless I have to remove some sticky adhesive. Another power boater here at our marina was using Muriatic Acid. He told me you have to be careful though as it can burn your skin, I wondered what it did to the water? I always use just biodegradable soap and water with a 3M pad to clean the topsides so I tried some Barkeepers Friend spread on the 3M pad to remove the brown stain and it worked great, I did not even have to rub very hard. It took 5 1/2 hours to clean the entire hull. I make good use of our Kayak to get at the areas where the is no dock to stand on which is about 3/4 of the topsides. I hang on to a suspended dockline to keep the kayak close and scrub or wax with the other hand. Excellent total body workout!
My muscels had not worked that hard in some time so I was thrilled when Bill called and asked if I wanted to go with him and Pam over to Gulfport for a Lions Club Shrimp Boil (fundraiser). This would give my body a day to recover before I started in with the Wax on/Wax off. Bill & Pam were our dock neighbors on H dock in Corpus Christi till they decided to move to St. Petersburg. Lynn and I have found a few of these great meals along the way on our cruise but usually they are Gumbo cook offs, always some type of fundraiser but lots of fun since all the locals turn out and you get a fun atmosphere. Well the atmosphere in the lions club was a bit crowded so Pam spoted a nice picnic table outside overlooking the bay in Gulfport. It was a beautiful 75 degree day and spring break was just getting started so the waterfront was starting to jump. Afterward we went to O'Maddy's on the water front http://omaddys.com/ for couple of drinks then back to their boat for a nice evening of conversation and meeting their dockmates. This was great since I got a close up of the municipal marina which is always a attractive option since it has downtown St. Petersberg right out of the cockpit.
Then next Day the process of Wax on Wax off started and continued for 4 days since my body could only take about 4 1/2 hours of this per day, which was long enough to get 1 side done. Since it required two coats I just finished today and I could really use Mr. Miyagi! I can just see him rub his hands together and then put Daniel Larusso's shoulder back in place. My Pectoralis Majors are completely and totally exhausted, sore and need help after 21 hours of this tlc for WS. The rest of my body is right behind.
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