Spray down Wipe down Throw Down
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Hey I wanted to do a Spray down Or Wipe down challenge. I'm looking for some Ideas from fellow W/W peeps on how the challenge should be conducted and or products to use. ( I have some Ideas of my own but looking for your input) Here is a list of the products I have on hand. If you want a product tested please let me know. Please say the Name of the specific product. Brand & product name please. Home brews or mix's included!
1. Spotless 2. Wizards (mist & shine) 3. Lucas (slick mist) 4. Meguiars (final inspection) 5. Eagle One (wax as you dry) |
I think a lot has to do with the environment. For example hot day with direct sun at the boat ramp, some of the wax products dont' do as well. I have been curious to try Spotless and some of the others. A lot of folks use Boat Candy and swear by it, so makes sense to add it. I have used all the others. My routine usually consists of either of these:
-Babes Boat Bright diluted 50% with water in a garden sprayer or -Auto Magic Hydroshine if it is not to hot and direct sun and the boat is still damp |
Turtle Wax Wax-N-Dry is going to be hard to beat as it 4.99 at walmart. Eagle one is a bit more
Add that one |
Please add Boat Bling Hot Sauce to the test. It works very well for my black boat here in Arizona when doing the wipe down at the ramp.
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Perhaps we can break it down into 2 category's. One's with wax and ones with out or application in direct sunlight or not?
Boat Bling Hot Sauce ok! Turtle Wax and Dry never heard of Auto Magic Hydroshine? |
Grant, give me a call tomorrow sometime and I'll get you set up with some product for testing. Enjoyed the underwater LED tests back in the day, will be interested to see what you come up with here.
602-881-752nine zack@boatbling.net |
Has anyone tried Alien waterless car wash on their boat? It is not a wax (they claim it is an Acrylic resin). I bought a bottle and tried it on my truck. Seemed to work really well. Not sure how long it will last.
http://www.alienwaterless.com/product-information May be interesting to throw in the test. |
Meguire's Quick Clean Marine #52 please
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Boat Bling will win hands down in its category.
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I use the Turtle Wax Wax and Dry also. Very curious to see how it compares.
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Teague Custom Marine released their own wipe down product called "Teague Shine". Bob Teague is very well respected in the powerboat business and takes a lot to get his endorsement, especially if it's going to be used on $750,000+ powerboats with flawless gel coats and paint work. I'm ordering a bottle to try.
http://teaguecustommarine.com/teague...-teague-shine/ |
Zach I will hit you up.
The guys in the Auto Geek forum talked highly about Alien Waterless. I will check them out as well. Teague Marine I will check them out as well. Paul. I'm pretty sure that "Final inspection" and the #52 are the same I have seen meguires repackage the detailer in a few different bottles. But I'm pretty sure it's all the same stuff. Question: what do you folks feel about towels? Should micro fibers be used or common terry cloth towels used for this test. I'm a big fan of common terry cloth towels, because they soak up the water so good and keep on going. I have found micro fibers don't soak up a lot of water and you need quite a bit of them to do the job. |
I have been using these microfiber towels. Kinda pricey but they work great.
http://www.autogeek.net/cobra-deluxe...er-towels.html |
You certainly need to add Hot Sauce to the mix. Been using it for years on all colors of Gel and it works great.
If you are on a budget you can cut it up to 40-50% with distilled water and it still works like a champ!! +1 for Boat Bling (Hot Sauce) |
I was just trying to get a sense for how many people use micro fibers. I have always used towels cut into small sections for clean up. I do notice a difference in how fast one removes excess spray down material.
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Yes I use Micro Fiber too
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With that in mind, we like the common terry cloth boat towels for your test. When we ride, we have specific laundry basket for boat towels that do not get fabric softener treatment which reduces ability to absorb water. Humidity is not as much of a problem in So Cal but if your in Orlando or Mid West, it make a big difference. After riding at the end of day, we just grab one of the boat towels and wipe down. I have found that the slightly damp towel allows same result with less product. We trailer our boat, so the trailer and wheels get wiped down too. All towels get washed after every use, no fabric softener. However, I have no objection to microfiber for the test, as they do work well, but most are too small and too easy to get soaked before the entire job is done. I have used them with great results but when they get too wet you get streaking as with any towel and you have to dig up another towel. Then there is always the problem of the nubby who grabs the wrong towel. Keeping separate towels is more work than I want. I want to ride more, work less. |
I like the 303 marine Speed Detailer . Has a good smell and works better then anything with wax especially in the sun .
I also always strictly use Micro Fiber on the gel coat . Might be overkill but I'm too poor to buy a new boat so I do my best to keep it nice . I get the big pack at Costco and as long as they're debris free we wash and reuse them . |
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I really like how the marine version of Eagle One's Wax-As-U-Dry works. Keeps the boat clean and shiny after use and in between full detail waxing.
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I don't see Babes mentioned here.
I currently am using this product because I won a whole bucket of it in a raffle.:o All the Babes products work well, the spot remover is a strong one and not intended for every wipe down. We use Babes wax every wipe down. We use old bathroom hand towels as they dry and move the product at the same time.Perfect size!!! If my boat was dry (it hangs in the boat house) and I was cleaning it after it sat for awhile and is dry - microfiber shop towels are the way to go. I have used the Lucas product - works good, smells like cherries. I guess it depends on how anal you want to be. I still believe the old school way is best but sure does take extra time. A 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water is the best spot remover I have ever worked with short of hull cleaner. The problem is that it strips off some wax while removing the spots so you need to apply something after. Extremely cheap!!! If you wax your boat like your truck with heavy wax, the 50/50 works great for 4 or 5 months, then you gotta wax again. |
Micro's are nice but a true shammy is where the wipe down process really works. I use a micro to clean up any streaks left over when using a lot of product or by the end of the boat with a soaked shammy.
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+1 on shammies. I'll take them over a micro any day, as they dry better and you can wring them out and keep on drying. Personally, I use ~25% vinegar, 25% windex, 50% water. Gets spots out well, but not quite so harsh as 50/50 vinegar/water. I just do a full wax ~3 times per season (garaged, so pretty easy) to deal with the wax getting stripped. I will be interested to see Grant's results though.
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IMO if you do boat bling, you should do boat candy as well. I have used both with very similar results. So close in fact choice for me and every boat in our line came down to smell.
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I got some Boat bling comming
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What's the diff between Boat Bling & Boat Candy. From what I understand the Boat Bling & the Spotless is a Water spot reducer/remover with some sort of a shine enhancer.
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Can't wait too see the results of what you come up with... Always a treat when you put together a comparison between different products.
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I have always used Boat Bing Hot sauce after pulling boat from water and have never had to actually wax my boat. I am surprised at the people that wax theirs 2 and 3 times a year.
Not sure that is necessary if you take care of it on a weekly basis. |
The hardest part of this throw down will be getting the pics to reflect the results. I've never seen the marine version of the eagle wax as you dry but the normal version was terrible for me and the turtle wax as you dry works great, but i've found it to streak depending on what wax I apply at the beginning of the season- noticed this on my vehicles as well. With the right combo its fantastic.
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Grant do you plan on using the towel to soak up the water and then polish with a micro fiber rag? A good deal on micro fiber rags can be had at Costco if you were wondering. |
I'm in saltwater but blessed to be rack stored. My after ride routine involves liberal application of a garden hose. Most times it get puts up wet. About every month or so I put a coat of heavy wax on the paint and aluminum tower. RainX the windshield is a must-do. I have been using Mequires and Mothers carnuba paste and it seem to clean and polish out spots OK but neither wax lasts more than a couple weeks in summer. 88 degree saltwater is pretty aggressive. Any other salt riders find something that lasts longer and resists water spotting better than carnuba paste? Maybe I should start using one these tested products after the hose down? The boat is going in for paint this winter (again). Thinking about that new Jeep orange color. The gray makes it look like a police boat.
Sorry for the semi-jack. Thanks. |
Lol I just buy a cheaper boat and use the piss out of it then buy another ever 5-10 years. I used to waste so much time cleaning my boat just to realize why? No one else cares or noticed except me. More riding less work!
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I use Boat Bling Hot Sauce after after use. I also use Vinyl sauce after every use. Then we use Condition Sauce every third time.
We use Meguiars #21 for waxing. It is so good You only need to do every 9 months. We use it every 4 months just because I am anal about the care of our MB |
I use Driven ...the guy works the boat shows he's the world's greatest salesman. The stuff he sells gets me all kinds of compliments on my 27 year old Sanger.
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With all the used v drives and suck gates you may be on to something, even my trailer is spotless even leaving the launch now, I'm tired just thinking about it during summer, if I was really fully employed it would make that during week final clean up a thing of the past. |
I actually did a long wrote up while back of Babes Boat Bright VS. Boat Candy Speed Gloss VS Boat Bling Hot Sauce.
In a nut shell Babes is essentially the worst. Not that it's terrible, but it doesn't attack the hard water spots and doesn't leave a huge gloss. The Boat Bling Hot Sauce attacked the hard water spots the best, left an ok shine, more than the Babe's less than the Speed gloss. The Boat Candy Speed gloss left the deepest shine , attacked water spots better than the babes but not as good as the Boat Bling Hot sauce. Also did the daily wipe down vinyl cleaners (excluded the deep cleaning ones like Malco and Totally Awesome) Babes seat soap- Best smelling, least aggressive of the three. Might be my everyday cleaner. Left the seats feeling the "smoothest". If your boat is new and are looking for an everyday cleaner buy Babe's. It smells the best and was pretty easy to whip off to a level of no residue. The down side is not enough horsepower to clean deep grim and dirt. 303 vinyl and fabric cleaner. At first this was my favourite. It worked the best on the white stitching. I found that I used less of the product compared to the other two. It also left the least residue (which may be a benefit to some). I found it worked well on the dash and other hard parts. Overall I was very pleased with this product and would buy this again. This product gave great results but needed more work then then the Vinyl Sauce Boat Bing Vinly Sauce/ Boat Candy Vinyl Clean - I would NOT say that these products blew away the 303 but in my experience the worked the best on spot removal and overall cleaning. I found the 303 did a better job on the white stitching but these were the best overall. Man do I miss the Exquisite Line of Vinyl cleaner . It was the best overall but is no longer made |
I've used many of these products so I'll predict Spotless #1 if water spot removal is a key factor. Boat Bling and Boat Candy #2/3 depending on how much you value gloss vs smell. If no water spots then the wax as u dry products are cheap and work great which is tough to beat.
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I saw chemical guys has a line of marine products out now, and a couple of wipe down options that could be promising. I haven't used their products yet, but was going to order a compound, polish, glaze and jetseal to use on a newly acquired vehicle that is in great shape but I'd like to bring to mint. Chime in if you have any experiences good or bad.
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I just got some of their wipe down water spot remover this week. I use many of their products for my cars and really like them so thought I would this a try. The only other I have used is Lucas spray mist stuff. The transom of my boat is black and has horrible water spotting just after one day of use so this will be a good test. I won't see the boat for another few weeks but will report back my results. |
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I'm still waiting on some product but I had some initial thoughts on how to conduct the test: I think I'm going to break it down into two different categories one will be for shine enhancing products. ( these would be products that have waxes and other product to enhance your finish) And the other would be for Spot remover's.
So basically products to be used in direct sunlight and products that would be used out of the sunlight. To start off with I will get my own spray bottles and paint them so I can't see the color of the product inside. I will then section off a panel and test each product with a new micro fine towel. I will either pick a number of passes and wipe each Aera Or just note how many passes or wipes it take to get a streak free finish. I will note the surface tempature and try a few different temps to simulate real life conditions. I was thinking about only using black as my test surface. The front of my pontoon boat has a great black surface area (photo below) that gets lots of sun exposure as well as water spots. let me know if you have any thoughts or comments. |
Great idea, Grant. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
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Excited to read the final results.
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One issue may be that we don't all boat in the same water. I never really thought about it until someone who's water has a lot more minerals than mine told me that my wipe down method would never work where he lived.
Anyway I've been using boat bling but haven't tried that many other products. I may try diluting it with distilled water like someone mentioned earlier to save some cash. I'm curious to see your results. |
Is the panel on your pontoon gelcoated fiberglass or painted metal? Possible different results with products designed for gelcoat vs. painted automotive type surfaces.
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That's a good question. Gell Vs Paint. I'm not sure how the water spot issue will work on one vs another. The panel on the pontoon is painted aluminum. So in the spirt of a fair and balance test I should try it out on my Nautique .
I did some testing today because I just couldn't wait, and I have to admit the few that I have right now are all very close. Spotless does do great job at removing spots, While other leave a smoother finish for what ever that's worth. Example does a smoother/softer finish even matter???. Some wipe away faster. Point being The ones I have so far are all very good. I have tapped my co worker in on the test. He has a brand new Black Acura TL and he is obsessed with spray detailers, I have him trying out ones on his Acura. His results are pretty much what I know but it's cool to hear him confirming my thoughts about specific products and how they work. I give them to him with Zero info on how to use them and then he reports back his results and coments . It's cool because he is just as excited to test as me. |
I am a huge fan of PBC! I have tried other products and I keep going back to it.
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I agree this should be gelcoat only. Gelcoat is more porous than metals and hardest to clean. I have a toon with black panels and it's nothing to keep looking new with Lucas spray mist while the Tige not so much. I am curious to see what spotless does as I hear great things. I got the chemical guys and will be testing ina few weeks but not expecting much. I have to use straight cleaning vinegar to cut the spots and polish and wax several times a year. I miss my white boat
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Boat Bling landed. As well as the Wizards.
It's looking like the test is more between 2 styles of spray/wipe down classes. Water spot removers and shine enhancers. |
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I had no Idea boat bling made pontoon or aluminum cleaner? This test could get out of control. I have been using Eagle One etching mag wheel cleaner on my pontoons. The stuff works awesome. So I have another item to "Pepsi challenge"
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Here is Harolds Bennington with a Eagle One cleaning.
"Disclaimer" just don't go out and buy some of this Acid Etching cleaners. They are Extremely Nasty and they will Etch everything any anything near by. Including your eyes and lungs so use extreme caution and protection. |
I've used Boat Bling products for the last 5 seasons and could not be happier.
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One thing I will Note right off the Bat is the smell of the Boat Bling Hot Sauce. Now I know everyone's sense or what smell's good to them is VERY subjective. (hell some people love the smell of GAS) But you cant help but smell Vinegar in the Boat Bling Hot Sauce. The Spotless product has ZERO smell. When you do your wipe down and if you happen to put your used wipe down towels in a closed ski or v drive locker I think the smell is gonna be pretty strong when you open it back up. I was testing some Boat Bling last week & my left over towels were on the steps to my garage (in Open Air) & every time I walked by the towels I could not help but smell the vinegar in the "Boat Bling" product.
All the other Wipe Down stuff (That's NOT a spot remover) has a pretty nice smell. |
Coming out of hibernation, been so long I almost forgot my password!
Let's add one more criteria to the test, and I will donate my truck/boat/jeep/labor to help Grant come to some conclusive results. No point carrying multiple bottles of stuff when you can get two things done with one bottle. Way back when Grant turned me on to Slick Mist by Lucas. It works OK on boats but it works great on my dark blue truck. My mechanic recently asked if I had just gone over the truck with a clay bar, I have done nothing but wipe it down with slick mist for the last 4 years and it sits outside everyday. I used to carry stuff for the truck, stuff for the boat, wheel stuff, tire stuff, interior cleaner, and interior finishing stuff. Today I have narrowed it down to 3 bottles (maybe 4 if you count glass cleaner). I still like the Lucas stuff, I really like the tire and wheel stuff, it keeps all the black panels on my Chevy Avalance looking great (truck is 10 years old), that's one bottle instead of two. I know there are better things than the slick mist for the boat but it's the best I have found for the combination of dark truck and light boat, but I am still looking forward to something that works better and available in gallon form. Buying 6 packs of the Lucas stuff seems silly but they don't sell anything larger. This test may need to be revisited in the spring/summer as I want to find something that works well on hot dark gelcoat or paint. Not sure if we can get those results before June in the SF Bay Area. My initial input: Babes products (exterior, interior, etc.) - all thumbs down. The stuff works OK but it just takes way more work to get the same results you get from other products. I have a gallon of boat bright I am giving to Nate as soon as he comes and gets it. Chemical Brothers (tried a few different products) - all thumbs down. This one was expensive since I bought gallon sizes of some of the products. Macguires - good products but not as good as some others (based on old stuff, new stuff may be different). Smell - I agree with Grant. I don't want my stuff to smell like salad, gas, or solvent... silly but true. |
This "Test" is very Subjective. Different finishes react differently between products. Think of painted and fiberglass surfaces like peoples skin. Depending on the condition or moisture it level can yield different results with the same product. I tried some product on my Friends Lambo & 458 but because the paint finish's on both cars were so well kept you couldn't notice a difference. But on the beat down paint finish on my black tow vehicle. The product made a big improvement especially the water spot removers. I'm sold on them. Both my boats have a nice waxed finish, So now I'm looking for finishes that may be not so well kept to test on. The storage unit I keep my boat at has some finishes that can use some Love.
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with many of you also coming from the car world, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Griot's Garage products. Their spray on car wash and speed shine are both pretty great.
https://www.griotsgarage.com/product...fType=&from=fn https://www.griotsgarage.com/product...fType=&from=fn and their products have pretty amazing ratings on their site. 4.9 out of 5 isn't bad. Maybe it's got more of a market share in the Pacific NW because they're located in WA? |
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Ok with boats put away I will shift gears to viny cleaning. I figured this would be a good piec to dona cleaning test on.
Boat Bling VS La Totally Awesome Well this is gonna be tough because TA is very hard to beat cleans anything and everything and for only 99c. Well here go's |
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I would say that it's a Tie. Boat Bling seems to leave the vinyl not as dryed out. Boat Bling didn't seem to dry out my hands as well possibly a lesser chemical strength??? What ever it works nice
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Now comes condition time.
Boat Bling Vs 303 Vs 3m Vinyl Restore. |
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IMO boat Bling wins this test Hands down.
1. I included pictures of the rags. You can see 303 and Boat Bling are still working as a cleaner because you still have some dirt on the rag that's a bonus. 303 is just as shiny as Boat Bling but Bling seeems to leave the vinyl softer and it smells better. The 3M is #2 as far as making the vinyl softer. If your dealing with dry or cracked vinyl. |
Great update, thanks Grant!
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I noticed some of the new interiors have a Brushed or Non shiny interior vinyl. My pontoon has a Tan vinyl that's a semi flat finish. Anyone know of a spray that keeps the vinyl looking like a flat finish?
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Rinse off all the residual cleaner with a clean water wipe down.
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Decided to give the lucas slick mist a try after the vote of confidence on here. Been using it on my maserati, and i'm impressed. Gives a nice quick shine, smells good, and has held up through a few big rain storms really well. The water just beads up and sheets off. I normally use the turtle wax as you dry and its pretty good. I found the meguires for black cars is actually better than the turtle as its carnuba based, but just doesn't last long. The slick mist has a little better shine than the turtle and has held up better than the meguires.. Seems like it would work well on the boat too i'm going to give it a shot this summer.
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