Thanks, Daniel. Very helpful. Now I just have to find some of the stuff.

Mary,

I'm sorry, I thought I'd previously mentioned where to buy this stuff. 303 Protectant is sold all across the country in hardware stores and Home Depot type retail centers. Online you can buy it from any number of boating sites. For cat sailors, Murrays.com stocks it in several sizes; 8 oz./$7.95, 16 oz./$14.95, plus $7.95 shipping (pretty steep shipping). We buy ours locally, by the gallon. As I've mentioned this stuff is great for protecting neoprene wet suits and booties, life jackets of any material, hiking harnesses, boat covers, mast, boom, shroud lines, blocks, stainless steel, cat trax wheels, fiberglass cat boxes, and just about anything else that takes constant abuse from the sun. Suffice it to say, this is really good stuff and pretty cheap.

Vertglas does not have anywhere near as large a distribution network. I don't know where it can be purchased retail. I buy it through a chemical distributor who only sells to manufacturers willing to maintain large volume accounts. For individuals, I think buying it online at Marine Store dot com is probably the best bet. They carry a couple of sizes; 16 oz./$26.95 and 32 oz./49.95 plus $5.95 shipping. We only use Vertglas in limited applications. I prefer 303 on my F17 for several reasons and would just summarize by saying I like its' higher performance qualities.

Vertglas is less known than 303, which doesn't mean it's useless. Hundreds of manufacturers, worldwide recommend 303 to their customers. The manufacturer of Vertglas doesn't know much about how their product holds up under various conditions, let alone which surfaces will absorb them. They make understandably cautious claims. We do a lot of testing before we make a claim and as I've said I don't know how long either product will cling to the polyethlene surface your own boat is made from. I'd like to suggest you purchase 8 oz. of 303 and apply it to one hull and 16 oz. of Vertglas and apply it to the other. I realize I'd be spending your money but I'm really interested in the outcome. Also your boat is exposed to higher UV in Florida than more northerly parts of the country so it would make for a great comparison.

I've got a call into the engineer who developed 303 to see if I can find out the answer to your specific question. My hunch is it will work just fine.

I should probably make a clarifying statement so sailors will know where I stand regarding the relative merits of Vertglas vs 303. "303 protectant is head and shoulders above ANY product we've used since 1980." That doesn't mean Vertglas is worthless, it means 303 is better and a lot cheaper. But unless both of these products are applied correctly, neither will perform very well nor will they last very long. When I observe the condition of cats in various fleets, it becomes obvious that cat sailors in general, aren't very interested in maintaining their boats.

Correctly applied, Mary, your boat will sail faster and last for the rest of your life with no appreciable damage to it. If your interested in pursuing coating your boat with 303, I'd be happy to tell you how best to apply it.

Good luck
Daniel

Hey Mary,

303 Protectant available right here!

http://store.catsailor.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=jrqqcocpe

Shhh. I don't want Rick to know about it. His hulls don't need to go any faster.

Okay, finally stopped raining so I could take a picture or two or three. Here is what it turned out like.....
I think it is miraculous. If this is what Vertglas can do I can't imagine what 303 will do seeing as Popeye seems to think 303 works better.
Thanks again Jake. I've very pleased.
Greg

Picture two

Picture three

Ohhh...so you're taking Popeye's word over mine?

That looks great!

Thanks. I think so too.
I'm saying I can't believe ANYTHING could work better than this..... (sorry Popeye)

Greg, That looks great! I have used 303, but think I'll try this stuff come Spring. I cleaned my hulls with Barkeepers Friend, and it seems to have really eaten the gloss off the gelcoat.

That's awesomely gorgeous! And it sure looks fast. But I guess we still don't know whether it is slippery for trapezing -- and for righting the boat?

I'm telling you - on the deck of a monohull healing at 20 degrees punching through chop without the aid of a trapeze line....it's livable gription barefoot and great with shoes. Most certainly that can be applied to trapezing.

To get technical about it - the static friction while barefoot remains the same...perhaps reduced a little initially. Static Friction while wearing deck shoes goes up dramatically. Kinetic friction while barefoot goes down dramatically (i.e. once you start slipping it's more slippery) while wearing shoes it is still increased a good bit.

Static friction can be losely interpreted as how grippy a surface is when neither of the contact surfaces are moving relative to each other - they are "static"... i.e. how much pressure it takes to get your foot to move while it's planted on the hull. Kinetic friction is resistance to motion between two surfaces when there is already motion between them (like resistance while you are already sliding). They are two very different values and the static friction is typically greater than kinetic friction. In this case, while barefoot, the static friction remains about the same while the kinetic friction becomes a good bit less.

WHAT???

September/October are the best months of year in New York. My weather station said 14 knts today and it was a bit higher yesterday. Just amazing days. Keep sailing, I know you buffalonians don’t get cold. No shirt? Bills game?

Matt

I'm still looking for the before pictures??? It would be nice to compare.

Mike Hill

This may be a silly question, but if these products make a boat faster in the water, does it also make them faster in the air? I mean, hypothetically, would you save a little in gas mileage when trailering? With the prices of fuel these days, every little bit helps -- and we always pull two boats double-stacked.

I would say that the jury is still out with regards to if any of these products actually make a boat faster in water (or air).

Before pictures, Mike....

Picture 2 before Vertglass

I'm talking hypothetically here, Jake. If it IS faster in water, would it also be faster in air?

I can't stop taking AFTER photos.....
Mike, I'm telling you the shine before the Vertglass was non-existant. It looked like flat white paint with no reflection at all on the outside of the hulls. The inside of the hulls showed some reflection but nothing like this.
Now it looks like the boat is wet all the time. In fact, my wife asked if she could touch it or is it still wet. That was two days after painting this stuff on.