Ceramic coating worth it?

[azeus17]

I'm wondering from those who have done it, is it worth it? Would you do it again? We will take delivery of our GS22 in July and have been contemplating having it done before it even hits the water. Boat will be black and white. Did you do the exterior and interior, or just exterior? What is the ballpark figure you paid to have it done?

I did do a search and saw some results, but know new products come up all the time, so I am looking for most recent recommendations. Thanks!

[Mahnal]

I did a ceramic coating on my truck. It is much better than wax, mostly because it lasts longer. However, it isn't a miracle, as sometimes advertised. I would consider these factors....
1) Effort - Depending on the coating it will require the same or more effort than wax. It may require application indoors to cure and prevent contamination, and cure without moisture. Getting wax around your letters and stuff is a pain, you don't have to worry about ceramics, but overall it is more sensitive to getting done correctly.
2) Long Lasting - Probably going to last 2-3x as long as your wax. You still need to wipe down, but you can use a booster to make ceramics last longer.
3) Cost - The raw materials are going to be 2-3x as expensive, which isn't a big deal if it lasts 2-3x as long, assuming the effort is roughly the same.
4) Performance - The look of ceramic coatings, is possibly better than wax, but a fresh coat of either looks great. Since it lasts longer, it will look better longer...

I need to pull my boat back to the house to do a spring cleaning, and I will probably apply an Adams ceramic.
This: https://adamspolishes.com/products/a...ting-basic-kit
or https://adamspolishes.com/products/ceramic-liquid-wax-kit-1

They have a graphene ceramic that is better, but I will be outdoors for the cure time. Also, I have no affiliation with Adams, I am familiar with their stuff and find it works as advertised.

If you have someone else do it, its not going to be cheap. The guy that did my truck told me to do my boat myself... lol.

Derek

[azeus17]

Thanks for the reply. I've had one estimate so far for $1200. Not cheap, but not staggering either. I don't know what products he uses, but assume being a professional that he has space inside for it to cure. I would definitely verify this before proceeding. My buddy used him to do his Audi A5 and was very happy with the outcome.

[srock]

For $1200 I will just continue to use my full canvass with skirts that cover the sides. Seems to eliminate the need for more than a seasonal wax and I am in Florida.

[Blomdoggy]

One of My Friends here in Utah, Has a Detailing shop and they do A TON of ceramic coatings on Boats! I have been on some boats with ceramic on it and they are super easy to wipe down after you get off the lake! The only complaint I have heard about it, is that its super expensive and doesn't last as long as you would like!

[shag]

I was a big skeptic until I had a friend who owns a detail business talk me into it. That was 1.5 years ago and it still beads water and shines nearly like the day he did it, on a red SAN 230. I do keep it in a boathouse but one side gets sun a lot and used to fade that side. It has not faded at all now. It isn't cheap, but I felt it was worth it. ABrilliantFinish is the company name here in Orlando. They do the boats at Nautiques of Orlando too.

[ScrewPusher]

Has anyone tried the Marine 31 Vessel Coat UV PRO coating. I saw it on autogeek.net and Mike Phillips doing a complete restore on a faded blue fishing boat. It's expensive, but less than 200.00 gets me 2+ years of protection, might be worth it.

[gonefishin5555]

I don't see a need to do it. I use bling sauce and microfiber clothes to wipe down the boat after each use. I pulled it out friday after winter and I spent 20 minutes on it and I was ready to launch. I'm going to skip waxing i think, it seems to clean up so easy right now. I think if i was going to invest time and money it would be on the seats

[mzimmer75]

I have IGL ceramic on my 200. The dealer already had it done before I bought it so I don’t know the retail price. It seems like a nice coating, but I’m not convinced it’s so much better than wax and bling sauce. I doubt I would have paid extra for the coating if I’d had a choice before buying the boat.

[bturner]

I was looking at something in the "do it yourself" category like 303 Graphene. Somehow can't get myself to spend the $1200 for wax, sorry ceramic. Then again for you guys with $150K (for starters) boats $1200 is just chump change and is probably somewhere in that neighborhood of what you spend when you have someone detail the boat for you anyway..... All joking aside, If having someone detail your boat and you're talking something like a third more to try it, why not?

For me that $1200 is basically my gas for the season.

[azeus17]

I guess the way I look at it is if I can keep it like new for 2 years, with drastically less effort, for less than 1% of the cost of the boat, it might be a worthwhile investment. Especially on a black boat. Now, if everyone was telling me that it wears off in less than a season, I probably would continue my old routine, but that's what I came here to figure out.

[HoopsMT]

The detail shop here pushes ceramic hard. The issue I have is that we leave our boat in the water from Memorial Day to Labor Day and always need to wet sand after the season. Perhaps ceramic would solve that?!


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[bturner]

I doubt it. You can't even do that with bottom paint. But if it's as good as they say it is it should, right? I mean if you can light the surface on fire, what's a little water....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94pY51TdK9s

It slices, it dices, it'll even make your bed in the morning! And what if I told you that if you buy right now we'll even throw in a set of theses forever sharp knives!

IDK boys.... I'm sure this stuff is good but when I see this kind of advertising I start to wonder.

[jjackkrash]

I coat all my cars myself. And friends and relatives cars. I love the stuff (I use C-Quartz UK and Gliss top coat). But I still use Collinite on the boat because it really does have an awesome shine on gel and because I can't stand scuff marks. Any little scuff or smudge or whatever, and I will hit it with the mechanical buffer. If you hit it with the buffer, you need to re-coat. I'd probably use a coating on the boat, especially the Marine 31 because of the UV protection, but having to re-coat each time I buff would be a pain.