New paint job this winter for my 56

Awlcraft 2000 can be repaired easily just like Alexseal. You're thinking of traditional Awlgrip. I'd go Awlcraft 2000 which DOES NOT GET WAXED, whereas the Alexseal NEEDS to be waxed...... I also think the Awlcraft 2000 has superior gloss....I did a hull midnight blue 2 years ago with it, and still looks perfect. If your painter prefers Awlgrip, he knows the ins and outs of applying it and I would use what he knows and prefers as well. The ice blue hull is a nice look.

My statement is directly from the Awlgrip website, perhaps YOU should read it sometime. I posted the link below as well as the link to Alexseal's care and maintenance of their paint systems below if you'd like to educate yourself.

If you read the post right above yours from the Awlgrip website, it states that 1. Do not wax, Awlcraft 2000 only needs to be waxed IF it has been BUFFED OR POLISHED. Waxing it will cause it to then be required to wax. DO NOT WAX AREAS UNLESS THEY ARE DULL OR HAZED....
http://www.awlgrip.com/support-and-advice/topcoat-maintenance.aspx

With Awlcraft 2000, it doesn't hurt to put Awlcare on it once or twice a year which is basically wipe on, wipe off, and easy unlike wax.

To sum it up, if the paint was sprayed properly and didn't have to be wet sanded, compounded or polished after being shot, then it does not need to be waxed and should not be waxed unless it is dull. Just like the midnight blue hulled yacht we had painted 2 years ago, has never been waxed and looks perfect, I wiped Awlcare on it 1 time. We don't have any issues with marks or wear with fender covers.

Now ALEXSEAL
3. Sealing and Protecting It is recommended to apply a high quality wax or polymer sealer designed for surfaces painted with polyurethane at least 2-3 times per year. This will act as a sacrificial coating that will protect the paint and can dramatically improve the coatings life expectancy.

http://www.alexseal.com/docs/general/ALXS_caremaintenance.pdf

You want to call me out on being wrong. Yet the information I provided was directly from the manufacturers website on care and maintanence. Be a man and admit your wrong when your wrong instead of smoke screening. I never said I was a master of all trades, but I sure as hell know how to read manufacturers instructions!!!

The links are there. Both Awlgrip (awlcraft 2000) and Alexseal have a maintenance section with specific do's and don't regarding maintaining their paints. It's spelled out in black and white. I follow the manufacturers recommendations for everything on the yachts I manage as do many others.

Just had an issue where a Volvo dealer did not. Dealer did the initial service on a new boat at the 50 hour intervel I believe it is, installed 30 micron Racors for a set of IPS 600's. Ran the boat 1200 miles all was ok, then went to run the boat north and the Port engine acted like the high pressure fuel pump was going bad. At cruise slowly losing and gaining 300 rpms and got a little worse as the day went on. The racors were barely even discolored and only the lower 2". Local volvo dealer plugged in his laptop, changed the primaries and secondaries....seatrial, all perfect and showed the owner where Volvo states a primary filter of 10 microns or less, NEVER 30 microns. Then ran the boat another 1000NM and all was fine.

I deal with A LOT of different aspects of the marine industry. I deal with a lot of the major companies in the marine industry. I don't only maintain and repair yachts, I run them and long distances doing 12,000-15,000 NM's a year so I know how a lot of yachts perform in real life. In order to do that, you NEED to know how to diagnose an issue, fix it on the fly if you can, and be on your way again. Also run 150 different yachts/boats each and every year as well as doing a slew of freighter loadings/unloadings. Also running just about every engine brand, propulsion, and type commonly seen in yachts. I experience these issues in the field during actual use.

I'm smart enough to know when I'm not a master of something and hire the appropriate person that is a master in that field. I'm also smart enough to read manufacturers maintanence instructions and follow them. When it comes to a $100k paint job that I'm maintaining, I follow the paint manufacturers instructions, then there is no issue if something is faulty with it.

I started working in my dads automotive repair shop and body shop since before I was 10 (as well as the mechanical end of it), I know how to paint, prep for paint, and on and on, I must've sanded miles and miles of cars/trucks/boats with a DA as a kid..wet sanded paint and buffed it.......He restored corvettes as well as painted raceboats and built motors for APBA raceboats in the late 70's, both with Awlgrip and Imron back in the day when both systems were relatively new........I surely don't want to do any paint work on anything, nor swing a buffer, I hate it. There are also a lot of aspects I don't do, like getting under the valve covers of a diesel engine. I used to build race engines for my Street Renegade car (drag race) back in the day, but got tired of the drag racing circuit. But I sure have supervised lots of mechanics who do rebuild diesels, adjust the valves, set injectors etc etc. (for example). If you've ever adjusted valves on a gas engine not much is different on a diesel engine. I do the basic stuff.....impellors, fuel filters, oil changes.....I'm not going to pull over and wait days on a delivery for a mechanic to come to the boat because we ate a raw water impellor or have dirty secondary fuel filters...or the freshwater pump went bad or bilge pump.....you need to know all of the systems and how to fix them.....but I have seen ALL sorts of issues that most people don't see and can't recognize when they do see it with the various manufacturers. I know how to diagnose prop issues for example, but I'm not a propellor guru, I simply tell the propellor guru what the issue is....not enough RPM's, too much slip/caviatation getting on plane, not enough stern lift, and on and on.

There are lots of topics I don't post to and various aspects I have not dealt with and do not comment on. That being said, I've had boats since I was 5. Been in the marine industry since 1999 in several different aspects. I'm not a legend, nor am I a master of everything. However, my resume is pretty impressive. That being said, I've maintained a lot of Awlgrip and Alexseal painted vessels, KNOW their care and requirements, and cut and pasted directly from the manufacturers website which re-iterated what I wrote to begin with.

Now that you know my story, stick to the paint.

I had a hull painted by Luu Marine several years back.....I was not impressed, neither were they because they sprayed it 3 different times and couldn't get it right (it didn't have orange peel, it had grapefruit peel).

I think Cable Marine does the best paint in the Fort Lauderdale area. AMT used to do really nice paint jobs, not sure now.