C&C 27 Association Forum

Guest

Chalky Deck

The deck on my boat is a bit chalky - eg., when you kneel you may get a bit of white "rub off" on your knee.  I have read that a product called penetol (a paint conditioner) does a very nice restore job.  Anyone heard of it being used on a 27?
Thanks.

Guest

Re: Chalky Deck

The product is actually called Penetrol and it claims to replenish essential oils within the gelcoat.  I have used it in the past to restore faded colour to red gelcoat, but I found that over time it caused an oily residue on the surface of the gelcoat so, after a couple of years, I wound up removing it by compounding the gelcoat and then I never used it again.

I would not recommend putting Penetrol on a deck.  Instead, I would recommend a thorough scrub with a non-skid deck cleaner, then a light compounding with something like Meguiar's colour restorer.  After that, if you can find a wax specially formulated for non-skid (Aurora makes some), then I would seal the surface with that product. 

Are you sure that the chalkiness is not left over from some cleaner?  For instance, if you clean the deck with Vim, it ends up looking incredibly white and clean but the Vim leaves a white powdery residue that you will be finding on your shoes and pants for days afterwards.

Good luck,
Marcus

Guest

Re: Chalky Deck

Thanks. Sorry for the spelling misatake.  Did you apply the penetrol more than once?  Did the residue wash off and reappear?
I don't know what you mean by compounding - I am not familiar with the term.
Thanks

Guest

Re: Chalky Deck

Compounding is simply the process of going over a section of hull or deck with rubbing compound.  This usually works best if done with a power buffer, but it needs to be one with a fairly small disk.  The large 10-inch buffers that we use for waxing cars do not allow you to apply enough controlled pressure.

Rubbing compounds come in various grits.  A coarse or medium grit is used to remove very heavy oxidation.   A liquid like Meguiar's Colour Restorer is actually a very fine grit compound (with other additives), which allows it to remove surface oxidation without going too deep into the gelcoat.  A note of caution: if you compound the deck too often, you will wear down the ridges of the non-skid, so this is a process which should be done infrequently.

There are new types of wax which have a very high co-efficient of grip.  These are specially designed for non-skid surfaces and act as a sealer for the pores of the gelcoat while improving the grip of your shoes.  You should try to find one of these for your deck.  I applied the Penetrol once a year to the coloured gelcoat of my hull, but was dissatisfied with the long-term results.  The colour was great in the first year, but subsequent years did not seem to have the same degree of colour restoration.

Let us know how it comes out.
Marcus

Guest

Re: Chalky Deck

Thanks for the explanation Marcus.  I will let you know how it all turns out.