Have you ever used Zaino polymer? You should!!

I first heard about this boutique "wax" product a few years ago for use on cars. A lot of show car enthusiasts and "car people" swear by the depth of shine and protection that Zaino offers, not to mention the long lasting results and ease of application and removal. I emailed the company about a marine application, and the owner made some suggestions, and let me know that he had great success using the product on gelcoat, and that the level of UV protection, water spot elimination, and etc, would be unparalleled. I have to say I agree.

It was a VERY time consuming and laborious process.
1. Wash boat with Dawn dishwashing soap (alkaline) to remove all wax buildup and surface contaminents.
2. Clay bar entire boat (Z-18).
3. Wash boat with Zaino Z-7 car wash and dry thoroughly before water spots form.
4. Apply Zaino Z-5 polymer for swirl marks enabled with ZFX accelerator and remove with 100% USA made cotton bath towel.
5. Apply Z-6 detail spray over entire boat and wipe/remove with 100% USA made cotton bath towel.
6. Apply Zaino Z-3 polymer enabled with ZFX accelerator and remove with 100% USA made cotton bath towel - as many coats as you want, using Z-6 between each coat.

I did a coat of Z-5 and a coat of Z-3 with Z-6 between them and at the end. I took the boat out on Saturday, and by the end of the day, the boat looked trashed. Water spots everywhere - it was 90 degrees on a black boat so the water beads dried instantly. I used a damp microfiber towel to clean up afterwards at the ramp, and it looked like I had literally just waxed the boat right there at the ramp. I did another coat of the Z-3 yesterday followed by Z-6. The boat feels like a new boat. You know, that soft, supple gelcoat feeling on the new boats at your local dealer? I have that feeling once again.

Check out the depth of the shine in the gel...

That is rediculous!

that is out of control...what color and part of the boat is that?..that jus looks insane...soo good

Did you get mirrors installed on the side of your boat??

That is soooooo sick!!

Like he said, the amazing part was even after a day of riding in mercky river water , after a quick wipedown the boat came out looking like the picture again.

That is the port side of the boat - you can see the Malibu graphic at the bottom left of the picture, and the rub rail in the top left corner of the picture. Thanks for the comments. I'll try and resize one more pic...

WOW!!!!!!!!!

It is like the boat has been mirror coated.

I used to use that on my cars all the time. Takes a day but the cool thing is that the more coats you add the deeper and better the shine. Did 3 coats of swirl remover and 6 coats of polish on my black M3 once and I could not believe the results. I must say there are products with equal results with far less effort now. If you look at some of the products on detailersparadise.com there are better out there now. Just look at some detailing forumns and ask for advise. There are some serious people out there that know their stuff. I have only used Meguires or 3m on the boat. Tempted to use the Zaino though. The Clay step is key to any process IMO

I could not figure out the picture at fist until I noticed it was actually a mirro image !
What is the 'clay' step ?

Clay bar-ing your boat or car is the step you take after washing in Dawn. You use a palm sized piece of play-doh type material, mix up a soapy solution in a spray bottle for lubrication, and go to it. You spray a 2 foot section with the solution, then rub the clay back and forth. It removes all the water spots and surface contaminants from the finish - brake and rail dust, paint overspray, etc. You can tell when an area is done becuase the clay doesn't stick to the surface as much - it kind of glides over and then you move on to the next small area.

The main area of the boat plus the first 7-8 feet of the underside of bow took about 2 hours.

Hmm.. I guess I shouldn't be too suprised it seems to work well on gelcoat. Corvette guys SWEAR by Zaino (as do others), and I can attest it works on mine. Kicker is it costs a ton, so I only use it on my car.

I had my boat done and it works just like stated above .

(Message edited by mitchj on June 06, 2006)

Where can you buy this stuff?

I suppose you could do a search in google.com and come with http://www.zainostore.com/ otherwise I have no idea where you buy the stuff...LOL!


(Message edited by bocephus on June 06, 2006)

If I use a 100% cotton bath towel from Taiwan, will it mess up the finish?

only avail thru the website.
I started using Zaino products in 1998, was reccommended to me by a friend when I was doing the competition stereo thing. Amazing stuff works better than advertised. I recommended this stuff here on this board in 2001 and got reamed all over the site for it, I guess I was ahead of my time!

Little rich for my blood though to use on a boat, their products are REALLY expensive. But for a car that gets 15X the abuse, the protection is well worth it!

Their clay bars are are better than any other I have used, same with the application pads. But if you become a user, be mindful of the fact that their products only have about a 1yr shelf life. Use it in a year or throw it away. Similar to suntan lotion, it will lose effectiveness in the bottle over time.

Bocephus, props for bringing this to ppl's attention again, You boat looks great and I understand...my show car was black!

Paul is killing me

I've been uding Zaino products on my Corvette for years and started using them on the boat last month.

How often do you have to re-apply? Do you do the whole process once a season and use Z-6 to keep it looking nice?

BTW very nice looking. I think I might be getting some for my show car.

Yeah, as far as I know you can just do it once every 6 months or so and then use the Z-6 whenever. They also have a Z-13 (or something) show car detail spray that is better than the Z-6.

As far as cost, one bottle of the Z-3 will probably do 10 coats on the boat. Not bad for $15. The Z-6 ran out fast but I put it on waaaay too heavily. I think the whole thing cost me $100 including shipping and I got a bottle of Z-2 to do my car with as well.

Regarding the 100% USA made towels - If they are made in the USA, they are for sure 100% cotton with cotton stitching. Sometimes, Taiwanese made and in general, Wal-mart, Target, AutoZone, etc. towels say 100% cotton but are not. If you use those you run the risk of putting swirl marks and scratches into your boat.

www.zainobros.com is the other way to get to the site I think - the site is pretty informative so check it out.

To me, $100 is not that bad to have my boat look this good, whether it's taking it out of the water or the boat is just sitting in the driveway, especially when you consider that it's well over $100 just to fill the gas tank.

At least some of their stuff is available through Eckler's. I use the 1, 2 and 6 on my car and have always purchased it through them.

http://www.ecklers.com/find.asp?find%5Fspec=zaino&cat%5Fid=126&sub%5Fname =Car+Care+%26+Tools+%2D+Waxes+%26+Cleaners&level=2