The best way to recover the hull finish on a Fluid Motion built boat is have it painted. The gel coat products used by Fluid Motion "were' at least in the early days lower quality. This was my opinion after owning my new C26 2016 after a year. I noticed gel coat fading and porosity already starting. This was in my past experience something that was experienced on marine finishes after several years and years of being exposed to the harsh elements that a boat is used in. Both hull and top side gelcoat already required compounding and buffing. Once the fade is there it is never going away. You can fluff and buff and shine it. In a month's time it's going away. Bottom line ceramic coatings will buy you time at an expensive cost, there are other products that if applied buy time too. The bottom line is the Tugs and Cuts have poor quality gel coat finishes, once the short lived factory finish is lost you have a two choices. (1) Become proficient with the use of a buffer and plan on at minimum a once a year compound, polish and wax application. In my case I did my hull and topside every two months and the boat looked good. If I let it go any more than that it would start looking "blotchy". (2) Bite the bullet and have a quality marine finish applied to the hull and top side. Awlgrip is one of the quality products used in the marine industry. It is the go to marine finish. Once applied your fading problems are gone. This is not a bandaid it is a fix. The Ceramic finish was the go to a few years back when it hit the market as the cure all for maintaining a good finish on the hull and top side. It was expensive and also required maintenance to keep the finish in good condition. It was a miracle finish at first, give it a couple years the cost comes back. The finish needs to be removed to achieve a restored look and another application applied. Not an inexpensive process. There are no inexpensive solutions that will give a lasting results. The best permanent fix to repairing the poor quality finish on your Fluid Motion product is get it painted.
Of all the complaints (many) I had about my Cutwater the gelcoat finish was the one that P'ed me off the most. I pride myself on owning a pristine looking boat. The best part of owning a Fluid Motion product, Ranger Tug or Cutwater is they are awesome looking head turning boats. When one enters a harbor people look. The last thing I wanted was a good looking boat with a dull faded hull. Unfortunately this is a common event and discussion. " Look there is a Ranger" ! "Tug cool boat ! Why are they all so faded looking? " I don't think it is that old". The oldest a Tug or Cut can be is 20 years old. Good quality gel coats have been available since the 90's. A 30 year old boat if maintained should have a good finish after 30 years. I purchased a 2002 Mainship in 2021. When my wife and I looked at it for the first time my wife asked me "do you think this boat was painted?". It looks better than the Cutwater we just sold. My answer was it must have been. As we got closer to it I could see it was the original Gel coat. This boat was 19 years in service and had a far better finish than my 5 year inservice Cutwater that I just sold. After purchasing the Mainship I applied a coat of wax on the hull and top side and then left for the Loop. We spent 14 months on this adventure. When we finished the loop the hull and top sides still shined. It needed a wax job but still shined and after a wax job looked like a new boat again.
If I kept my Cutwater It would have been painted !! the rest of the products and applications are bandaids for old hulls and new Cutwaters and Ranger tugs! Quality boats use quality finishes they why they are none as quality built boats. There are places to cut corners when building a boat. Gel coat is not one of them. I not a betting person but I would bet this problem is going away with the Correct Craft acquisition.
