plastic wood trim looks lousy

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ric2352

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95 208.....the phoney wood trim around the gunwales looks faded and sunburnt. Does Grady sell replacement kits? What do you do? Nothing makes it look better for long! Thanks
 
I took all my trim off, did a intense sanding job, then applied like 4 coats of pettit topside 2 part poly paint, its holding up great, no chips or fading, looks like the day I put them back on, and my boat sits in the water 24/7-365. I think this post had so pics of what it came out looking like.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18132&p=114596#p114596
 
Pennetrol will get the color back, you need to apply every other month or so. Just make sure they are clean and dry then wipe the pennetrol on with a rag, be careful the pennetrol will stain the fiberglass. You can also use Woody Wax, I use that sometimes and it also brings the color back.
 
I agree with using the Penetrol. That is what Grady White suggests, and it does restore the color. The problem I had was the fake wood grain was shot in areas of my trim, and that you cannot restore. I hoped I could simply flip the pieces over, but no luck. The back sides do not have the wood grain finish. I ended up replacing the fake stuff with teak. Good luck with your projects! My Grady is a 94 192 tournament, so there wasn't that much to replace. It was manageable.
 
My Duratrim was painted with that Cetrol teak finish crap which is all pealing off. It's past the point of using Penetrol. This winter I plan to replace it all with Starboard. I believe the color to use is Seafoam.

The only part I'm a little worried about is the toe rail. That will have to be thick for strength and the screw holes will have to be elongated to allow for expansion and contraction. Since the Duratrim is so strong for its thickness, I may try to paint the original toe rails to match the Seafoam color and reuse them. Another option is to just use a piece of real teak there.
 
Mine was past bringing back, so I also painted it. Used "Brightside" one part poly (blue, I forget if it was med or dark) and it seemed to match the blue on the Grady graphics. So far I only did the toe rails in the cockpit, but I plan on doing the rest of the trim this winter. I really like the way it turned out and it has held up well this season.
 
Agree with penetrol but I took it all off the boat and applied 5 coats. This was in May and still looks pretty goo. Not as good as real teak but not sure I want to put up with the continued maintenance of the real thing.
 
I started off using the penetrol on the duratrim. Does ok job, but does not last long. Looking for maint. free which was what this stuff was supposed to be about. Wish they still made it so we could refresh it as it lasted years before it started to fade.

Cut some PVC trim and installed. Easy to work with, looked great, but too soft. It gouged easily.
Purchased Starboard in Seafoam color. Looks great until the sun hits it and it warps like crazy. For now, it will do though.
I used 1/2" for the toe rails and it is ok, but it really should be either 3/4" or even 1" and route the bottom corners so they don't dig into the top of your foot, route the top for looks.
I had painted my original Duratrim toe rails with Interlux and it was beautiful, but chipped easily after first season, didn't look so good.
I think the starboard toe rail, if 3/4" or 1" will do very well.
However, still looking for a solution for trim since it is so thin. I did allow some room with the screw holes for some expansion, but did not work well.
There has to be something out there that is as good as the duratrim was that is stable.

Found some carbon fiber type materials, but unable to put my hands on it to see what it is really like. Would want it to be in a color and not look like the charcoal/black carbon fiber look though.
Seems that there would be some type of fiberglass like material out there for trim that is 1/4" thick, but haven't found anything in that category yet.
 
I'm not sure if it would totally solve the problem now (after the starboard/seaboard is already warped), but adding more fasteners should work to keep them from warping.

Try usplastic.com for other plastic and fiberglass materials. I know they have some fiberglass slats/shapes, but I'm not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for.
 
ROBERTH said:
Purchased Starboard in Seafoam color. Looks great until the sun hits it and it warps like crazy. For now, it will do though.
Click to expand...

So did even the 1/4 Starboard trim distort or was it only the thicker toe rail?

What does Grady White put on the newer boats? Isn't that Starboard?
 
The trim is thin so it warps pretty bad at times. Moer screws would help but would start to look bad. New boats are using some type of vinyl flex trim but thicker toe rail out of starboard. I did notice some slight warp from the grady toe rail but not enough to worry about.
 
My original trim pieces were just bleached out looking...had one that was sunburned. Tried many things to bring it back....the best by far..Boeshield T-9....spray it on, rub it around with your fingers to coat ( you'll see a difference immediately) and don't use a rag..you want to leave it on to set up. I use it on all electrical connections and it has worked well on the trim. It lasts for a long time and touches up well. Even the sunburned piece looks acceptable. My 2 cents.....
 
I use Boeshield all the time as a "preservative" for metal components, etc... But I never would of thought of it for that type of application! Interesting!!!
 
DennisG01 said:
I use Boeshield all the time as a "preservative" for metal components, etc... But I never would of thought of it for that type of application! Interesting!!!
Click to expand...

I've heard of guys using WD-40 on the Duratrim as well. Since Boeshield is comprised of solvents, oils, and waxes - it makes sense that it would work on Duratrim and the waxes might help it to last longer. I've never tried it on anything other than my woodworking tools, however
 
Hi all,

I'm having the same problem, and thought I'd revive this thread in case anyone has any updated advice? From the answers above, it sounds like Boeshield T-9 has been the most successful (but also the most surprising), and that Penetrol is the most standard, but not necessarily the most maintenance–free. Any other input?

Thanks!
 
Is the wood finish on both sides of the duratrim? If so see how the back side looks then turn the piece over and or swap port and starboard. Just a different thought.
 
We use Woody's Wax. once at commissioning of the boat and once 1/2 way thru the season. It works well.
 
98 208 removed dash console BROWN and side panels , and fake wood trim all painted at a local body shop , upgrading the panels and console was an excellent upgrade to GW off white from brown , wood trim painted black didn't hold up well chipping , did them over myself good for two years ,sounds like the two part epoxy from Pettit is the way to go just added to my spring list .
 
I'm going to sand prime and paint. I have some Awlcraft left over from my last build. Anything will look better than white haze :bang
 
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