Plastic Classic Forum

They look too nice to step on!

Good job.

-Britton

Dave- I'd still like to hear more about this Ultimate Sole stuff

Charlie, I found it two years ago at the Miami show. He had a sample and after sliding around and almost falling in the new boats; I took my shoes off and tried to slide on it I couldn't slide more than an inch. I was sold and purchased it for our boat and applied it to our sole last summer. It looks great and is quite self leveling. You apply a couple of sealer coats of their product and then put on the gloss. They recommend a foam brush and that's what we used. I haven't tried rolling it on nor did I talk to them about it.

The only downside I have is that if you leave a can 1/2 full it doesn't just skin over, it all begins to solidify and I couldn't get it back into any kind of usable form. I tried emailing them about this problem and didn't ever get a response. So at the show I confronted them about this and thankfully they gave me a new can. The did say it has a high solids content and if you get the can sealed "well" one should be alright. On my last can I bought a couple of bags of marbles and would drop them in the can to fill it back up before I put the lid on it. That seems to work fine and to my knowledge it hasn't prematurely hardened.

Those steps look great! So even with that high gloss, there's no slipping? Sounds pretty cool.

Another trick that seems to work well for preventing varnishes (in particular) from skimming over on top is to simply store the can upside down. This doesn't eliminate all the air from inside, of course, but it seems to keep the varnish liquid, even with 1/3 or less can remaining, whereas this would normally begin to skim and solidify if the can were upright.

Those Ultimate Sole guys have a fairly interesting story, don't they?

Two buddies who tinkered with stuff in their garage, developed this product. Instead of cashing-in and selling the recipe to one of the big boys, they resigned their positions in the rat race and now travel the boatshow circuit hawking product that they make themselves.

Something like that. If you catch them at a show on a slow day they're a good conversation.

Thanks Dave- I'll keep the stuff in mind. Don't need any right now - but ya never know. Looks great by the way.

Another thing I do with plain varnish ( and polyurethanes too) is to squirt a good shot of propane into the can from my small torch. That displaces the air, which is what causes the varnish to cure. Been doing that for years and it does the trick.

I'm curious. Couldn't you just lay a piece of cellophane on the surface of the varnish or sealant to act as an air barrier? Would'nt that accomplish the same thing, or am I missing something?

Ditto on the propane. works great...

Cellophane works too.

The great thing about turning the can upside down, however, is that if it does skin over-- it does so on the 'bottom' of the can where the air is. You don't have to deal with the skin until you get low in the can.

Can you use this product over varnish?
Brock

Their instructions imply yes.