To sand or not to sand...

[Levi900RR]

Im stuck, I am between two jobs right now and have taken 2 weeks off. One of which I have dedicated to getting the boat out and ready for summer.

I have already got most of the mechanical stuff taken care of and have the rest of this week free.

The boat looks great from about 10 feet but really needs to be sanded and buffed at some point. My question to everyone is can I realistically wet sand and buff my entire boat in 2 days? Its not something that I want to get half way done as now that I have a 8 month old time is at a premium...

I’m planning on 2 rounds of wet sanding, and probably 3 rounds of compound / buffing. I really want the boat to look as close to new as possible but if it has to wait till next year I will try and keep people 10 feet away from it

[REW]

Sounds like a winter project to me. enjoy the boat while it is warm and do the "work" in the off season.

REW

[jk13]

Two solid days of sanding? Yes, it can be done with no distractions or setbacks.

I've been working on mine for a month now, but it didn't look good from 100 yards when I started. I can only dedicate an hour or two at a time, however. The biggest chunk of time I did was about 4 hours with my son holding the garden hose over the area I was doing the entire time. I got about 3/4 of the boat done ABOVE THE RUB RAIL ONLY.

I agree with REW, take your time and do it right in the off season.

p.s. I am a bit of a perfectionist, though. If I am not happy I'll redo it again and again. The transom alone has been gone over about 9 times and I still don't like it. Now that I've experimented and have more knowledge, it is taking me far less passes with finer grit paper to get it done. Which is saving me time in finishing without visible sanding scratches.

Use a finer grit and don't be in a hurry. Work the area until it is done, then move on. When I started, I was in too much of a hurry, got too aggressive, and got poor results. USE QUALITY PAPER. 3M and such.

[Levi900RR]

Excellent advice I think ill wait till the end of the season... I did do a test spot and its going to come out great. Just need to find the time.