How to Use Paste Wax on a Boat
Paste waxing your boat will take time. The boat should be paste waxed at least once every six months and again when you prepare the boat to be stored for the winter. When you bring your boat out of winter storage, it needs to be paste waxed again. The paste wax will not only protect your boat's surface finish from the effects of salt, water and UV radiation from the sun--the three elements that lead to your finish fading--it will form a smooth surface that slides through the water faster.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Wash the boat with a phosphate-free detergent and clean water. If you don't wash the boat to remove salt residue, hitchhiking marine life or sand, waxing the boat will trap those items in the wax and scratch the gel coat that you're trying to protect with the wax. Allow the boat to dry before continuing.
-
2
Apply the paste wax to the hull with a clean dry cloth, folded into a square about the size of your palm. Swipe the rag through the paste wax, then rub the wax onto the hull using a circular, overlapping motion, clockwise. Allow the paste wax to dry to a white haze.
-
-
3
Use another clean, dry cloth, folded as before, to buff the wax. Use a circular, overlapping motion like you used when applying the wax, but in a counter-clockwise direction. Paste wax is not a self-leveling surface and buffing in the direction opposite of that in which the wax was applied will even out the surface, increasing both the shine and insuring that, when oxidation and fading occur, it will occur evenly and be less noticeable before you wax the boat again.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If you use an automotive buffer, be sure that you apply the wax in the direction opposite the direction in which the buffer operates.
Never use a buffing wheel and pad in an electric drill to buff your boat: you will damage the drill by running it on an extremely slow speed for a very long time and you may not only "buff" the wax off of your boat, you may also buff the gel coat right off the fiberglass very quickly.
