Good day!
My experience with Rolite is that you can use it quite sparingly on our Contessa's. I have never used more than 1/3 of a can of the polish, nor a that much wax for that matter. Your investment will last more than one season. Also, visit your local marine store -- it may not be cheaper but I saw Rolite products recently at The Boathouse here in Montreal. I checked the Westmarine catalogue but did not see Rolite. That does not always mean that it is not there.
It seems to me that it is the big buffer that does the work on this job. For those of you who are going to try Rolite, I use a 7" variable speed angle polisher with a big sheepskin pad. My yacht club has a few of the machines available to members because this method of polishing (whether using Rolite or not) has been so successful. Perhaps you can save a few dollars by asking at your club. My first season doing this I was able to do the topsides in half a day and I am faster now. A key element in the process is to use the Zappy pad cleaner often to get the old wax and other oxidized gelcoat out of the pad. The Zappy cleaner is a gadget that fits on the top of a bucket and you can get one through the same distributor as the polish.
Some have asked "How?". Elbow grease has always worked well for me. I start by giving my boat a bath! I start on the decks and work down -- I use stiff brushes on the non-skid and rags everwhere else. I use the standard deck cleaner (Starbright lately) and I rub every surface. I find that this removes a lot of the oxidation from the deck -- they look and feel a lot better when I am done. I also prepare the teak for oiling at this stage. (Aside: to keep this thread on topic I have posted about teak elsewhere). Then I clean the topsides with the intention of removing old wax, dirt, grit and grime. I have not settled on a cleaner for the topsides yet -- I want to find a balance between something that takes off old wax but is not hard on the underlying gelcoat. Again I use rags and I rub hard. Rinse WELL!
Next, wet the sheepskin pad and spin off the water. Your Zappy Cleanner is a good tool for this. Use a rag and apply a bit of polish to the boat. I may also spritz with a few drops of water if I feel it is needed for extra lubrication. The proportions of water and polish is something best learned by trial and error. Then polish. You will see shiny boat and it will be obvious, particualrly on a coloured hull, if you need to polish more. Follow the instructions -- small patches. Rolite is not unlike most polishes and contains a solvent that evaporates quickly. Keep the can covered and apply in small areas -- you need wet polish for buffing.
Also, be careful not to overbuff. Do what is necessary and no more. Polish is an abrasive process and you are using it to take off oxidized gelcoat. The more gelcoat you polish off (literally!) the less you have on the boat! As I noted elsewhere, my experience with Rolite has been that very little work is required on the gelcoat in subsequent seasons -- the apparent oxidation is actually old wax.
Once completed this stage you should be looking at a shiny boat. Take a dry rag and wipe the whole boat down to remove any residual polish etc. You will probably find a few spots to polish again and that is part of the reason for doing this overall rub-down.
Wax is the easy part. I apply the wax like I would on a car. I use a damp cloth and rub wax onto an area of the topsides -- I go larger at this point and apply wax to armspan sections. My goal is to evenly distribute the wax over the surface if I can -- not too thin and not too thick either. The wax dries quickly and must be completely dry before polishing. Then take a dry rag and rub off all the dry wax. The residual is the shiny surface. Waxing is a fast process and if you work at it you can easily work your way around the boat in less than two hours. I use three coats for a nice shine. My last step is again a quick wipe with a clean rag over the whole boat.
Happy Spring!
Christopher
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