Ceramic Coatings

Hello all. Can anyone provide information about the best ceramic coating product for a boat? Are ceramic coatings in fact the best protection? I researched threads and saw the January 2019 ceramic coating post. There was not much definitive information in that. There was an informative YouTube that compared several spray on/wipe off ceramic coatings and the Hybrid Solutions product appeared to be the best. But the test was for a car. It is only advertised as lasting one year. Are other types of ceramic products that are not spray on/and wipe off better?
I have spent a tremendous amount of time and money, buffing our 2011 ranger tug and want to preserve that as best I possibly can. I am willing to spend the extra money for the extra years of protection. I have researched the Internet extensively, and found mainly gray matter on the subject.

We too spent a lot of time compounding and waxing our 41PC. We usually wax 1 time per year here since the boat is in the barn all winter and therefore out of the sun. It would be nice to have a multi year finish.

For the Ranger Tug community, if you haven't already, check out the discussions on TugNuts such as The TugNuts • View topic - Ceramic coating brands

@Sjisailor. Thanks. Read the link. (3) different products were named. Didn’t come away feeling convinced about 1 product over another. I was convinced by many posts that Kevin in the PNW is the go-to guy. I contacted him and he does not sell his product retail and there are no installers of the product near us in upstate NY, so struck out on that option.

Still looking for a consensus about the best ceramic coating that can be purchased retail and installed DIY.

Is there a difference between a spray on/wipe off product like Turtle Wax Hybrid Solution Ceramic Spray Coating and other types of Ceramic Coatings that are apply and buff off?

I can’t comment on which product is best. But I had my Fleming done by the dealer and it turned out great (it was 7 years old at the time). They use a product called Undrdog. Apparently they used to use Ceramic Pro but switched several years ago. It’s only been two years and it lives under roof much of the year so I can’t comment yet on longevity. But the shine and ease of cleaning is amazing.

Sorry I don’t have better information on how it stands the test of time. My understanding is 80-90% of the work is the prep of the boat. The application isn’t the time consuming part.

@Rlime. I have heard of Undrdog coatings and researched them some. The products I looked at state that they are not a ceramic coating. The company suggests that much of ceramic coating advertisement is misleading, tacitly suggesting their product is just as good. This is an example of the difficulty of finding real good information about ceramic coatings, the bedt ceramic coating, and if that coating can be purchased and installed by a DIY.

I understand. Most of the work is in the prep. That work has been done in great detail. That’s why I want to protect it as long as possible. Thanks for your input.

That’s my understanding as well re: undrdog. I find the whole marketing side of ceramics confusing and hard to determine which are for real. So I deferred to the dealer who was going to stand behind it. So far so good. But still early days.
I’ll be interested to see where you land after all your research!

I was not even aware there was such a coating for boats, but can say from recent personal experience that although, hitherto I had thought it was a bit of a scam, the last car I bought new I relented and had a similar coating applied. I am just amazed at how good it is - and how wrong I was previously.

A good place for ceramic coating is the exhaust elbow/raw water injector.

I`m fortunate my 18 year old gel coat is,very surprisingly,shiny and fresh.
Paint coatings remind me of signing up for a new shiny car and getting shunted to the add on extras guy who says the paint will degrade into a dull peeling unattractive mess if I don`t drop another $5K protecting it.
PS.Well Peter, looks like we differ on this one.