Pros or cons of using car wax on the bottom to provide super slick water shedding bottoms?
Some are better than others.
Try this: Lemon Pledge furniture polish.It’s cheaper by volume and very slick.Just don’t put in on your deckside or you’ll have a hard time getting the wax to stick and stay on.It also cleans excellently.
It’s a tip that Jerry Mowe from the old Southshore factory told me about in 77’.Herb
Hey Jerry…have a great Christmas !
Thanks Herb, I’ll give it a try.
Punasurf,
At Surf Systems, and Surfboards Hawaii, we used Lemon Pledge in the final polish of the gloss coat. Two car waxes that are outstanding to use on the bottom of a board are, Spray Nano Wax by Eagle One, and Spray Diamond Gloss by Simonize. Both are easy to apply, and if you use it on a board you’ve been riding a while, you will feel the difference even when paddling. I apply several coats (3) to get good penetration and coverage of the surface.
Punasurf: any wax will work and shed water. Just get the bottom really clean first, or use a cleaner/wax product.
Howeverrrrrrr … it has been shown since more than twenty-plus years ago, that a water shedding slick bottom in not actually the fastest, except when you’re trying to sell the board. About a 400 to 500-grit finish will go faster. Lots of posts about this in the past. Look also for Speedwyre and several other induced turbulence bottom treatments, some of which actually have been banned from use as unfair.
Charlie
You could also experiment with Rain-X, which is designed to aggressively repel water and does not need to be buffed out (very much). I’ve used it, albeit with inconclusive results (don’t get too many opportunities for definitive speed tests in NJ:-)
Samiam
NOOOOOOO, dont do it, follow charlie’s advice and think golfball!
James
Quote:
Pros or cons of using car wax on the bottom to provide super slick water shedding bottoms?
while not an expert in this realm of required info, I can tell you everything you need to know about getting surfboard wax on car tops…
The newest TSJ (has the article about fins) has Greg Liddle of hull fame quoted (I think by Skip Frye, or was it Larry Gephardt? I can’t remember) as recommending a lengthwise sanded bottom finish for speed, after you’ve surfed it a while (I guess so you can feel the diff). Somebody suggests that the roughness promotes some lubricating effect of the overall boundary layer adhesion, but what it really does is promote longitudinal micro-turbulence which re-energizes the boundary layer into the mainstream and keeps the boundary layer from detaching in bigger draggier turbulence behind any foil or bottom curve.
Greg
Merry Christmas back at ya Herb!! Hope the holidays treat you and yours well!!
I got a question for you?! Do you remember the day you brought your Quad fin in to my glass shop in Tustin and asked me what I thought about it? 
You can eliminate a lot of hand work in production by doing a “pledge burn in” using a clean wool pad and a fast machine. It makes a real slick surface. Pledge takes a long time to remove by hand.
And then there is that Seaslide stuff: http://www.hheadproducts.com/. Possibly hype, but at ~$20 including shipping, it wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to find out… I’m probably done until warmer weather returns, but I’ll report then if nobody else has.
-Samiam
Yes Jerry,
People still don’t believe I had a quad in 78’…I even refined that design into a very workable board in 79 but it was just too advanced for the times.I got more laughter than anything else. ADD: You Said," It has soul".
Been alot of years since then and I hope you and yours are doing good.I’m really glad to see that you’re around and about.I always had/have a lot of respect for you and your work…more than I can express.You and Redman really opened my eyes up to alot of things,and you were definitely ahead of you time.
I’m always here if you ever need to contact me,your old friend Herb.
Or email me. Herb
It’s Baaaack !
Thanks MP/Swaylocks.H
After experimenting with many different car waxes. I have settled on “Dolphin Skin” products. They make several recepies for different applications. The teflon acrylic for sanded finishes and the wax product for gloss and polish boards are the best IMHO.
I"m on a Goin Twinzer these days. It the best board I’ve ever surfed!
Shack’d! Rich
Car Wax: Long-lasting German car wax for protection and shine. Road salt resistant, carwash resistant.
http://www.1z-usa.com/einszett_car_wax.html
A blast from the past, for the ‘‘high shine’’ crowd.