Rookie

Probably 4 to start with. I'm a little hesitant to put it on my deck at the moment until I see how slippery it is on the sides. I'm also going to do the bottom of the hull that is actual gelcoat. It is pretty porous and stains relatively easy. That will be the big test.
I have ordered Nano Bond for my exhaust mufflers/tips. My Gaffrig mufflers tarnish after first time out after polishing. We'll see how it fares. It has a 760°F "heat resistance" lol.

Slippery

I remember many, many years ago in high school having several discussions with my physics teacher RE smooth and slippery vs clean and very slightly rough surfaces and how they would each affect boat speed.
I raised the question in class and used real world examples of outboard toilet bowl racers very lightly sanding the bottoms of their hulls and the 1/4 mile guys applying "speed coat" which was like graphite and designed to be reapplied because it wore off.
His argument for a wax or other sealant was the water "beading" was evidence of water not adhering to the surface and would cause less drag than a slightly rough surface. He argued that even though the "rough" could/would cause aeration and mean a layer of air would have a lesser coefficient of drag per given unit on the hull vs the same unit of drag of water, there was less "units" to measure because the water was resisting the adhesion. Like running in a slight chop was faster than running on glass. Or something. It made my head hurt, and I was young enough that for the most part I didn't question my teachers. They were, after all, teachers , and their profession was to educate and mold our unenlightened minds.

I eventually figured out 3 things - 1) the guys I saw going really fast had ridiculous amounts of power, 2) a sealed hull is so much easier to keep clean it's worth whatever penalty I may or may not be paying in terms of fractional mph. and 3) if I'd lose about 30 lbs, ditch the beer cooler, and limit my wife to the amount of "stuff" she could bring with us I'd pick up 10 mph regardless of which lady of blessed acceleration I prayed to. I'm working on the 30 lbs, but am not optimistic over losing the cooler and I'm certainly not foolish enough to try and impose cargo restrictions.

If you really want to fall down a theoretical rabbit hole, there's a thread over on RDP discussing whether an airplane on a treadmill will generate sufficient lift to take off.

Back on point to the OP's question - I don't know "the best" but my son did a ton of research and informs me there are several different interpretations of "ceramic coat" among the installers. I'm sending our boat to the one he used on both his boat and his truck and is very happy with. I'll find out the particulars and will add to this post when I'm smarter.

Cheers

d

h20guy

Hi, can you please provide some more details on the speed wax that you use and that you're referring to? Who makes it? What's it's official name? Where can you buy it from?

Thanks!

Interceptor

This it ?
https://lucasoil.com/products/appear...mist-speed-wax

1MOSES1

I’ve noticed there are ceramic detailing sprays and ceramic...here is what I’ve learned. Anyone else have details? Think I’m leaning towards using a spray on detailer. Any recommendations?

ceramic detailer
sprays on and wipes off
can be buffed off
not as tough as ceramic applied via sponge.
can be done outside

ceramic via sponge.
sponge application
has to be done indoors
curing time
has to be wet sanded off
Very durable

Reynard38

I’m very interested in a DIY ceramic coating. I’ve got experience running a buffer on a car so the prep work would be familiar. Anybody used a ceramic product they’d recommend?

smokediver

I think “ ceramic coating “ is a diluted poly glo repackaged.

Rookie

I ran into a friend at the marina applying a ceramic coating to his boat. He likes the Ethos Graphene, but also likes Chemical Brothers products. He just has tried the Carbon Force yet. He does a lot of ceramic coatings,

1MOSES1

Did a lot more research. This guy seems to have the most comprehensive list of products and tests.

seems like the professional grade harder to work with ceramics perform the best. i.e. ceramic pro, igl, etc. note if you don’t know what you are doing I’d advise against these coatings. Seems like you have to wet sand if the coating doesn’t come out as expected.

some of the easier spray on ceramics don’t last as long...based on what I’ve seen griots 3-way seems to perform the best, easy to use, and relatively cheap. If you don’t like the coating it can be buffed off.

id like to find one I can use on the bottom to prevent the staining. Not sure I’ll find that in a spray bottle.