Waxing below the waterline

I think you've been visisting Amsterdam too much

I have heard that it can cause blisters if you leave the boat in the water a lot but I am also interested what the consensus is.

Kristof wrote: Eric, I could have guessed you would give a reply like that . Chantal waxes the whole nine yards , but I was talking about boats!

Now I can't even think about boats.

The problem is that I would like to know what the experts here have to say about that.
My boat sits in the water at our marina, and only gets out once a week for hull cleaning...
Could it have an unwnated effect in these conditions?

Kristof, we moor one of our boats for all of July and August. We wax as much of the bottom that we can get to. It makes cleaning easier and I think wax protects the gel on the bottom as it does on top. It's easy to tell the areas that don't get waxed as the crud is harder to remove. I've heard waxing the bottom can slow your boat down, but with these boats, I think that's splitting hairs.

Riley wrote: Kristof, we moor one of our boats for all of July and August. We wax as much of the bottom that we can get to. It makes cleaning easier and I think wax protects the gel on the bottom as it does on top. It's easy to tell the areas that don't get waxed as the crud is harder to remove. I've heard waxing the bottom can slow your boat down, but with these boats, I think that's splitting hairs.

Im with Bruce on this one. I generally dont moor my boats (they stay on the lift) but they'll get some scum at the waterline after a while since they sit at the dock during the day on the weekends. When waxed, that scum line is a breeze to remove... otherwise it can be a PITA, requiring chemicals.

The last time I put a good coat of wax on the bottom of the hull, the boats ran quicker than they ever had (see the results in the LG '09 thread) so Im not sure I buy the slower-when-waxed argument.

teflon, smooth invisible...your thinking of the heavy stuff you put on with a roller vcm17

The "no bottom wax" argument, is usually only heard within the 100 - 200 mph club.
I sprayed the bottom of mine with 303 Aerospace Protectant and picked up 3 - 4 mph. Seemed to last quite awhile before washing off.

Funny little story, my kids buddy was prepping his Jet Ski for an annual drag type race.   I kept hearing that this Ski was suppose to run 85mph.   So the day that I heard they were coming over to launch, to do some more "dialing-in", I simply had to drop everything, and go watch.   Loaded up the Nautique and followed over to a nice smooth cove.   The speed testing began.   I was really looking forward to seeing an 85mph Jet Ski.   Speed test revealed, too much "dialing".   He could only squeeze a 54mph.   So, I said "Hey, I've got some spray on crap that should get you up around 58"   His reply "No thanks, that'll slow it down"   So, he did a few more 54mph speed runs, till he ran it out of gas.   I got the privledge of towing him back to my ramp.   He "wrenched" "tweeked" and finished the "dialing-in" all the rest of the week.   Race day came, so, once again I had to go watch.   Keep in mind, he never did use the 303.   Race day he pulled a whopping 44mph.   I never did tell him that I've got some spray-on crap that should get him back up to 48.

The only thing bad I ever heard about waxing the bottom had to do with a section that was overlooked when it came to buffing out. A friend's father has two boats, one of them a 196. He leaves his boat in the water most of the summer but it otherwise meticulous. I guess there was one little section he didn't see and left the wax on there unbuffed. He said it really collected pond scum and it was a PITA to get off.

BTW, anyone have any tricks for cleaning/waxing the bottom when it's on a trailer. So far I've been doing my best acrobat imitation to maintain the bottom.

I would buy a gallon, but use it on the interior- not the hull. I used it on my hull once as a "quick detail" and it looked aweful- very splotchy. Luckily it washed off pretty quickly once I dunked it in the water. One of the quickest ways to waste money! Its great on vinyl though.

Youre much better off with a quality wax like Collinite... but dont expect to pick up any top end. To pick up 1-2mph on a No Wake Zone hull will require a pretty big change... a prop if your current one isnt optimal- otherwise more like 30hp.

bri, drop the tongue, block the transom corners and raise the tongue....do the opposite for the front

you guys have any pictures of the correct way to block up under the front of the hull that you could post? I want to try to block mine up to clean/polish/wax. thanks

Before pulling our boats out of the water after a long day of pulling ski practice we grab the sponge we keep in the boat and sponge the whole hull while in the water. Then drive the mile to the ramp, pull it out and wiping off is so much easier after a sponge job in the water.

We also keep them waxed. I believe it helps get that scum off easier...

The sponge thing is legit though, works really well for us.

Waxing below the waterline defo helps in keeping the hull clean. My boats get moored for around 8 months. I used to pull them out every few weeks to clean but it's major hassle.

One time I pulled it out, clean it up and just waxed a strip below the platform. After a couple of weeks you could clearly see the waxed strip where the rest was brown and stained.

I got lazy though and last year bottom painted the hull. Damn it was nice to have a boat with a white hull rather than the others on the lake that had grown a brown beard!

I just used a regular automotive wax.