BTS Protectant
BTS Protectant is said to be similar in efficacy to the popular Armor All and 303 brands. It’s intended to be applied to plastics of all types to enhance color and shine and to provide protection from the elements. Most notably, it’s hyped as being a replacement for wax on a boat’s gelcoat, which is plastic.
To test it, I de-waxed a section of flag-blue hull and applied BTS to perform a side-by-side, sun-by-sun, salt-by-salt comparison. After 45 days, the BTS test panel was glossier than the neighboring wax area, although to my eye the shine didn’t have the depth of the waxed sections. Still, it looked darn good. And remember, this is a spray-on, wipe-off product, so it doesn’t require even one-quarter the effort or time that applying quality paste wax does.
What makes BTS perform better than other “quick fixes” are the biocides mixed into its formulation. These kill the microbes that live in the microscopic pores of gelcoat and other substrates, ensuring the little buggers don’t contribute to a lackluster finish. As such, I also found it wonderful for protecting coaming pads and the interior of in-sole stowage boxes — places where I normally get mildew, even with good traditional maintenance. $15.99 (32 ounces); cleverinnovations.net or marine retailers.
