Awlcare Protectant

[Sharki]

Our boat was professionlly repainted this last summer with Awlcraft 2000 (Cloud White). Is there a minimum time I should wait before using Awlcare protectant ?
Another question I have pertains to a painted toe rail (Awlcraft 2000) that is stepped on every time the boat is boarded. I'm considering putting a protective strip (2" X 2 ft.) of clear plastic (vinyl ?) ~12 mil thick over the toe rail to protect it from getting all scratched up. This is the same product classic car guys use to protect expensive paint around door sills and other damage prone areas. It is waterproof and can be removed in the future. Thoughts?
Mark

[Nimble1]

The plastic sounds like a good idea but how slippery would it be? I have seen small carpeted pieces that are made to lay over toerails. Most of the boat magazines have ads for these.

[neilpride]

Awlcare is a polymer designed to work when the topcoat is close to the lifespan end, dont use it until looks very bad, some painters here dont recomend using nothing with Awlgrip , no waxes, no polish, juts shoap and water, and in fact my 14 years old awlgrip topcoat looks very nice after all this years , just sweet water and shoap , rinse well and very often maybe a light coat of polish by hand, take care with hard dingys aproaching to your topsides, fenders , and the next time you need to repaint your topsides you just need a light sanding and voila..... cheers...

[ronbo1]

Awlcare could be used from the beginning to help protect the coating. Waiting for the coating to fail is too late. I've used Awlcare religiously every year but at the tenth year Awlcare has no effect. The fact it's dark green exposed to the mid Atlantic sun could have shortened its lifespan.

Ronbo