Guy Acheson wrote:
The question
comes up every year...what to smear over the gel coat.
Is there any credible comparison of wax vs PTFE vs
Wx?

Guy, It depends entirely on what you are trying to do.The main reason
most of us wax our ships is for the UV protection. You can also dress
up an older or neglected finish by polishing it out first.Dupont makes
several good compounds for this and the type you need will depend on
how much oxidation you have.Try to avoid a buffer over 1800 RPM unless
you really know what you are doing because you can build up enough heat
to cause problems with the finish and the glass plies underneath.
Once you are done with this step, you will want to seal your freshly
polished finish by using a wax with the HIGHEST carnuba content you can
find.Several brands sell stuff that is 100% carnuba.It may not be the
easiest to use but it works best for UV protection.Avoid the stuff in
consumer reports because they have different considerations and use
different guidelines than those of sailplane owners.

Guy

Good Luck,
K Urban