Odd wax problem

[Giiwedin]

The wax on one of my canoes turns cloudy over time, and I'm trying to puzzle out the reason. The underlying paint is a dark green Interlux marine enamel. Once I sprayed on some 303 for UV protection. Later I applied pure Carnuba wax. The canoe is stored outdoors in the shade with a Sunbrella cover. If I let the canoe warm in the sun for a while, the wax gets softer and I can buff out the cloudy areas.

Any ideas as to cause or fix? Perhaps I should just remove the wax entirely. If so, is there a gentle product that would do the job without affecting the underlying paint?

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

I suspect that the cloudy stuff is caused by the wax picking up moisture and when you warm it in the sun and buff it, the moisture either evaporates out or simply temporarily gets buffed-out. Most of the time when you're dealing with any clear finish or substance, moisture is the #1 cause of clouding, followed by UV damage (which I doubt you have). You might try switching to Zymol cleaner wax, which is a water-based, natural blend wax made for show cars (blue, tall bottle, around $11 at places like Target). It tends to react a bit differently with water than most of the petroleum-based waxes. I don't know whether it will cloud less or not, but it might and it's one of the best waxes you can buy.