Will,

[color:"green"] >If I wax the area around my or my crews feet, I tend to not do as well...[/color]

Here, here. I agree with you on that one. Last spring's first sail was a long downwind run in winds of 20+, after days of prettying the boat up for the summer. The combination of highly polished hulls, a slippery drysuit, and rusty technique had us doing everything we could do to prevent sliding off the boat.

OK....lets start this topic...

Which brand name do most people use?

Turtle Wax. West Marine Brand?... Is one better than the other?

I'd also be interested in brands that will protect my colored hulls from fading. If that is my primary objective should I be looking at a polish or a wax? Can you get UV protectant in both products?

Thanks,
Todd

Well, my preference stems from my father.... he's a large boat dealer/repair facility in KY www.rottgeringmarine.com The ONLY wax they use is starbrite Teflon. The don't do any beach cats, but if it's good enough for a 75' crusier, it's good enough for me. He also has a 454 powered deep V that runs ~80mph.... just like bugs on your car, they get on your boat too. I can tell you after several years of cleaning/waxing that thing, bugs come off much easier.


Will
You can get it at Walmart. That stuff is SLICK!! I usually apply two coats, it seems to last great. I don't see any oxidation on the hull, so I guess it's protecting it just fine.

malc,
I just gotta tell a story on this subject. We bought our first Hobie back in 1980 -- a Hobie 18. We took it to its first regatta at the Sandusky Sailing Club in western Lake Erie. Lots of boats there. And we had been hearing rumors that the Hobie 18 "top gun" was going to show up -- John Barnett!

He pulled in late with this extremely ugly boat. It had gray hulls, as I recall, and they were a very dull gray. He had taken off all the striping and decals and wet-sanded the hulls top to bottom, stem to stern. It was very intimidating.

Here we were at our first Hobie race, with our brand new, shiny boat; and the top sailor in Division 10 had a boat that looked like it belonged in a junk yard. We knew we were in trouble.

Well, we won the first race, but we lost the regatta to John. So, of course, we wet-sanded our boat, too.

And that's the way it goes. A top sailor does something, and sailors new to the class copy it. Does it work? Who knows. We did really well in Division 10 with our dull boat, but was it because of the dull?

We did not wet-sand our next two Hobie 18's because -- well, because it is a lot of work, and we really didn't think it was necessary -- and it is really hard to re-sell a dull, ugly boat.

Will,I see your using the wrong wax. You should rub some of MR.ZOGGS SEX WAX all over your boat........That should help the crew anyway

Mike

Mike,

I have used sex wax for years on my paddle shafts. I particularly like the tagline: "Better grip for your stick"