Albin gel coat manufacturer?

[arcticspud]

Anyone know the name of the gel coat manufacturer Albin used in 98-99? Anyone know the official color of the blue hulls from that time frame?

Thanks

[arcticspud]

Does anyone know the name of the blue Albin used in the late 90s?

[Binford]

If you can bring a small sample of the color you're looking for, RevChem in Tacoma can mix some gelcoat for you to match.

[AK_Albin36]

I think most of us actually have colored Awlgrip paint, originally applied at the Albin yard, not a gel coat. I would be interested to hear how yours is holding up. Mine (Green) is now 10 years old and has lightened to a cloudy light green color over 80% of the hull. The owner of Skookum (2001 36 ET) is my slip neighbor here in Alaska, and recently buffed his out to a better-than-new looking appearance. He put her up on the hard for several months last year and has 100s of hours into the job, but I must say it looks worth it. The result was a deep, dark green... nearly black.

How are the other greens and blues holding up?

[joreyn]

I'm pretty sure the boats were not Awlgripped, unless the owner did so later. My understanding is that you can't "buff out" Awlgrip due to the nature of the finish. If Eventide has a chalky, cloudy appearance, it's gel coat and you'll want to compound it, followed by a good polishing and the application of the best wax available. You won't believe how great it looks when done.

Blue Moon gets buffed out every spring by a pro, with a couple coats of Collinite to follow. She is gorgeous when done. By keeping this up every year, the amount of oxidation is lessened. This Spring, for instance, there was just a light haze, and she only needed polishing, no compounding. Once the wax goes on the color deepens and gets a "wet" look to it. Other boat owners in the yard here offer lots of compliments. The guy who does the work loves it, because they want him to do their boats as a result.

Yearly buffing is somewhat expensive, but much less than painting with Awlgrip. My tech advises to keep buffing until the gel coat is too thin, and then use a two stage poly paint like Awlgrip to bring it back to perfect. Once the Awlgrip is properly applied, there should be no need for buffing for many years. It's pretty permanent - almost like an automotive finish.

By the way, shortly after I acquired Blue Moon in 2008, I saw a green hulled 36ET cruising down the Seattle waterfront, and later saw it in Poulsbo. Being the master of the Albin 36ET spreadsheet, any idea where that boat might be? It was for sale shortly after I saw it, and then I lost track.

[tbnolin]

Here's my two cents for what it's worth. When we had our 2006 40 NSC, we had her hauled and the bottom painted. While on the hard we had a buffer doing some work next to ours. Asked him if he would be interested in doing our blue hull, which he did. He gave us a quote and how many hours it would take him. When we settled up with him, standing next to the boat, which looked gorgeous, he said it took him about 3 extra hours and burned up an electric buffer, and said he had never worked on a finish that was as hard as this one. He had done hundreds of boats and never had anything like ours. He wasn't exactly sure what it was for a finish, but it was an extremely hard and complimented Albin for it.

[AK_Albin36]

Good info, thanks. I sure hope it's gelcoat, because it will be easier to manage for sure. I'm 99% positive mine is original, given the ownership history and age of the finish. When I bought her two years ago I had the yard try and buff out the oxidation... which seemed to only last a few weeks until the haze came back. Funny thing though, its not chalky like I'm used to seeing gelcoat get after 10 years in the sun with no wax.... nothing will come off on your hand when rubbed. When its wet or newly washed it looks great, but as soon as it dries it goes white again. I will try a few things this weekend and see how it goes.

For badly oxidized gelcoat, is it best to use an orbital buffer with polish and/or compound, or to do it by hand? I tried a bit of Aurora brand "boat scrub" last weekend on a test area, by hand. Took a while but seemed to work pretty well.

Not sure on the mystery Green Hull in Puget Sound. All three of the Seattle-area 36 ETs are blue hulls, based on my records. Maybe its one of the blank lines on the page?

[joreyn]

The pros use a random orbital buffer with different pads for compounding, polishing and waxing. West marine sells a pretty nice buffer made by Shurhold. Shurhold has some good videos on various topics on their web site.

I doesn't sound like the yard actually compounded your gel coat. If you put wax on an oxidized surface, it will hide the oxidation for a time, but as the wax wears off, the cloudiness will become visible again. Compounding actually removes a micron or two of the surface which is most likely where the oxidization is. After compounding, you can polish with a very fine compound which is what makes it shine, and then apply wax to protect the surface. You probably want to apply another coat of wax in 4 to 6 months.

You might want to use 3M super duty rubbing compound, followed by 3M finesse-it finishing material, and Collinite Fleetwax for protection. They are all available at West Marine.

[Mariner]

I've spent a lot of time trying to maintain the blue hull on Nordvika, and it has mostly been in vain. One year we hired a professional yacht detailer to buff out the hull. He expected it to take 1-2 days. After a week spent just on the hull, he gave up and said he'd done the best he could, and moved on to the topsides. It is definitely gelcoat, not paint; I've confirmed this by closely inspecting some deep scratches that were the unintended result of trying to teach my wife to dock the boat. Ours has become quite oxidized, and one professional described it as a "failed gelcoat". With waxing and buffing, the original deep blue comes back and it looks great. However, overnight, the little droplet-shaped white marks return. They appear to actually be below the surface of the gelcoat and thus, beyond the reach of a traditional polish. I think in order to restore it, we are going to have to wet-sand it. That is, however, a project for another year.

[joreyn]

There is a very good boat detailer in Port Orchard. Next time you haul the boat you might want to consider using him to compound the gel coat. Name of the company is Liquid Serene, and his name is Dan Heim. 360-731-9980.

Compounding is a feasible DIY project, but it is hard work and you need equipment. Dan is reasonable.

The Albin gelcoat is very hard according to numerous sources, but it is definitely possible to bring the shine back. I've never heard of failed gelcoat in relation to oxidization. Usually that means crazing or blisters.

[Tree]

I've noticed the same thing this year - we've just hauled due to the marina smashing the bathing platform up so we decided to refit at the same time.

Removing the chalky finish was easy - used Farecla Gelcoat Restorer and Meguires Wax, finished off with Meguires Yellowtech Mirror Glaze Number 26. Up on the bow of the boat I have quite large patches of what looks like white water spots - step back 2 feet and you cant see them but I know they will show once the wax comes off and the hull starts to chalk up.

I've applied probably the best part of 5 coats of wax to these areas now and they don't seem to be showing any better results.

I did read somewhere that this does happen to boats where the hull is laid in cold weather, FP2 was laid up in december 99 and commissioned in 2000. The cause apparently is too much accelerator in the gelcoat. Interestingly in the same area, there are hair width horizontal lines, almost like paint brush strokes but finer. I wonder if the gel was going off before they finished applying it?