E29 Sheer Stripe Clean up

Gmilburn

Gmilburn

Member III
Hi everyone,
I have a brown "sheer stripe" (just under the rubrail) on my 1977 E-29 that has faded and/or oxidized. It has a white milky haze on it. I have used many types of cleaners, polishing compound, rubbing compound, vinyl cleaners (seems to be heavy vinyl) and many other boat and household cleaners. They all seem to poorly remove the milky haze for a few days--then it returns. Anyone have any experience renewing it? Perhaps I need to "wax" it after it has cleaned up a bit? Or alternatively, do I just need to paint it with some good interlux paint?

Any help would be appreciated, along with any experience in replacing the 4 inch white "Ericson" decal at the stearn end of the stripe (I contacted the guy who made a bunch for sale a few years ago (in the Wanted and For Sale section) and he is in South America now and not available to get decals to me right now)).

Thanks to all in Advance!

Gary
"Hydrophilic" 1977 E-29 Hull 515
 
treilley

treilley

Sustaining Partner
You can wet sand/buff/polish out that along with the rest of the topsides. Fellow poster, Maine Sail, has a great write up on properly restoring gelcoat. Email me offline and I can send it to you if Maine Sail does not see this and post it himself.
 
E

Emerald

Moderator
ooops

I messed up when I posted above on the Vinylon. With the chaulky description, my brain just locked onto the never ending problems with rubrails becoming chaulky, and hence the Vinylon recommendation. So, if your rubrails are bleeding chaulky residue down the side of the hull.....
 
Gmilburn

Gmilburn

Member III
OK maybe I wasnt descriptive enough of the problem. My E29 has a BROWN Sheer Stripe--that has a milky white coating on it, that using a variety of cleaners, only partially removes it and in a week or so, it is back. Heres an old picture of it, before I worked on it. If you look closely you can see how the brown stripe has a white coating on it. Like I said, it partially cleans up--but then returns to the milky state.

Here's the old pic, when the problem was more noticeable than it is now.

Thanks again for your help!

Gary
 

Attachments

  • sheer stripe.jpg
    sheer stripe.jpg
    59.2 KB · Views: 83
E

Emerald

Moderator
Well, those do look very much like the white streaks I got on my prior E27 from the rubrail. If it was an even white hue, I'd be leaning towards general oxidation of the gelcoat, but the streaks take me back to the rub rail. If you take a rag (or even a finger) and give the rub rail a good rub, does it come off with the same white chalky residue? Does it seem to get worse after a good rain? If yes to all those, it might be worth looking into something like the Vinylon. Also, it is possible to get replacement rub rails for most Ericsons. If you search prior posts, you'll find quite a few have taken it on.
 
G

Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
Sheer stripe clean up.

Gary, David makes a good point and maybe the solution is to address the chalking issue of the rub rail. Failing that, and if you're really talking about a clouding in the stripe, others waaay smarter than I can chime in here about wet sanding with 1600 grit paper on it to remove the top layer of oxidation without damaging the color below it. I've seen this done on two boats, one done so well I asked the owner if it were a new boat. So let's hear from others on the subject and help good old Gary out once and for all. Good luck, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA
 
K

Kim Schoedel

Member III
Good old Gary,

I had the same thing on our Dark Blue sheer stripe. My stripe is gel coat. If you have a vinyl stripe, the following may not be a good idea.

In Spring of 07 by hand, I used rubbing compound, then sealer, then some very good Carnuba paste wax. Looked great for a couple of months only.

I knew at the time, that I should have done this the right way and used my commercial grade electric variable speed buffer. So I re-worked it this Spring of 08. First using 1500 (maybe it was 1600) wet and dry to get rid of the worst of the oxidation (chauky stuff) and then repeating the original process with the rubbing compound, sealer and wax. The important thing is to get down to clean, non-oxidized material before sealing and waxing.

To date, it has held up just great and I have just applied a maintenance coat of wax one time. I will throw on another coat of wax in a couple of weeks for the winter. BTW, I am a firm believer of "hand rubbing" the wax on.
If I don't get lazy and remember to just put a quick coat of wax on a couple times per year then I shouldn't have to go through another bottle of over the counter meds for pain management. Not getting any younger!
 
Bob Robertson

Bob Robertson

Member III
Hi Gary,

After cleaning up our gelcoat I have been using Collinite paste wax. A number of years ago Practical Sailor recommended it after doing one of their studies. I really like the way it holds up and the way it protects the gelcoat. Some polishes coat the gelcoat with a shiny finish, but don't protect it from oxidizing.
If you decide to try it, be sure to follow the directions. If you let it dry to much before buffing it won't buff out.

Enjoy,
Bob
 
CaptDan

CaptDan

Member III
Gmilburn said:
OK maybe I wasnt descriptive enough of the problem. My E29 has a BROWN Sheer Stripe--that has a milky white coating on it,
Gary
Click to expand...

After we'd spent some $$ on a new LP paint job, those nasty streaks continued to mar the freshly painted shear stripe. They'd be particularly evident after heavy rainfall. There's no doubt in my mind that the problem isn't gell coat related, but residue from the rub rail.

Unless there's some treatment (I've yet to discover) that can be applied to it, I don't see any way but to either replace the rub rail or paint it with Vinylon.

The minds of Ericson saved many of us from untold hours maintaining a wooden rail, but made up for it foisting that rubberized piling cushion on the shear.

YMMV.

Capt Dan G>E35II "Kunu"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top