Can someone recommend a polishing technique?

[ibelonginprison]

What @norcal210 doesn't know is, his boat is gonna get some down and dirty treatment this off season.
Gonna make an example outta your boat, boy.

[Air Tahoe]

5 hours ago, theGrant said:

I have never tried this technique but it is a terrific article.

http://www.fiberglassics.com/RESTORATION/RESTORING-GEL-COAT

 

Thank you SOO much for this link. It explains so much. I keep getting conflicting accounts of what to use and not use. I will return the Harbor Freight RA polisher. 

I ordered the heavy duty DEWALT polisher $180, wool pad, would pad and compound foam polishers. 

 

New planned process below: 

Step 0: Hull Cleaner by Starbrite $17

Step 1. 3M 05954 Super Duty Marine Compound  $25- 1 Quart

Step 2: 3M MARINE FINESSE-IT II GLAZE $35 16 OZ

Step 3: Starbrite Marine Polish with PTEF to prevent oxidation and seal the finish $25

Step 4. Collimate insulator Wax 845 $20 to keep the hull slick and shiny and easy to apply twice a year 

I will have wet sand 1500 and 2000 ready but hoping I will not need to use it. 

=Total cost $400

Wow, more then I was expecting. Local shop will do this project for $30 a foot or $660. But no guarantee they will do a good job or it will last. But now I will have everything for future use. 

 

I plan to remove the hull numbers, tribal graphics, but leave the big oval malibu label in the middle of the hull.

As noted above this article is so helpful: http://www.fiberglassics.com/RESTORATION/RESTORING-GEL-COAT

 

 

Edited October 12, 2016 by Air Tahoe

[Air Tahoe]

Photos:

http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii568/icloud22/IMG_4213_zpswvf6wbuc.jpg~original

http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii568/icloud22/IMG_4505_zpscb5h0bgx.jpg~original

http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii568/icloud22/IMG_0699_zps5ks4qjbz.jpg~original

[formulaben]

1 hour ago, Air Tahoe said:

New planned process below: 

Step 0: Hull Cleaner by Starbrite $17

 

Save yourself some money here, use "The Works!" toilet bowl cleaner...you can get it at Walmart.  Wipe on, wipe off.  Repeat where necessary. $4, and a cheap sponge just keep it off the trailer.

[Steve B.]

9 hours ago, ibelonginprison said:

Wow... I'm not sure where I can start with this one. lol

Wetsanding is an aggressive measure. Gel is thick and forgiving, but I reserve wetsanding to only the strongest of applications. Your fading probably warrants it, imo, but I always do a test patch of cutting polish/compound first to see if that can salvage it before resorting to sandpaper. Having said that, with cars you only go juuuuust as aggressive as you need. With gel, start with aggressive and work your way backwards, cause you're gonna do a looooot of work if you don't.

You want a true rotary polisher, or a DA with forced rotation. Lots of people have good luck with this one:

https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DWP849X-7-Inch-Variable-Polisher/dp/B004W1WGIC/

The issue with the one from Harbor Freight is it doesn't have the power to allow you to give it solid pressure for long periods of time without heating the motor up to the point it fries. 

Skip the foam pad and go straight with wool. Then if there are any hazing or holographic issues, step down to a strong foam cutting pad. I don't think you'll need that, though. 
I've had good luck with this one: https://www.amazon.com/Lake-Country-Buffing-Polishing-7-5-inch/dp/B005JPJH2S/ 

 

JC - I think it's time for us to do some detailing videos for TMC. My boat needs it again. Whatcha think? You down for some work up at Scott's shop in November? 

Thanks very much for the good info. I'm sure if you made video's they'd get lots of views.

Steve B.

[Falko]

Any time I get some "oxidation" at the water line, I hit it with the "Works" as mentioned or CLR. It usually isn't oxidation but mineral build up from getting wet and the water drying leaving the calcium/magnesium/etc. behind.

That said, when I polish my boat, I always start with something light duty for polishing, nothing in particular, but I do use a wool pad on a Hitachi VS rotary polisher running around 2000-2500rpm, not much pressure. That usually really shines it up. If there is some oxidation, I use rubbing compound on 1500rpms, and follow wiht the polish. Once clean and polished, a layer of 303 and buff that in by hand. Then wax over that. I do that a couple times per season and seems to work really well. 

[Air Tahoe]

Hey guys I hit it with the 3m super duty compound and it doesn't get through the sticker  Halo much. So next I went to 1500 grit sandpaper. The same with sandpaper.  Although I get off a blue color with the lubricant. But it still doesn't get through the stickers. Should I be pressikg harder to hope that the compound will get the stickers off On the next step? Or should the wet sand do it? 

[Fffrank]

1 hour ago, Air Tahoe said:

Hey guys I hit it with the 3m super duty compound and it doesn't get through the sticker  Halo much. So next I went to 1500 grit sandpaper. The same with sandpaper.  Although I get off a blue color with the lubricant. But it still doesn't get through the stickers. Should I be pressikg harder to hope that the compound will get the stickers off On the next step? Or should the wet sand do it? 

1500 isn't much more aggressive than compound.  Just go down another couple of grits.  It should come off without much effort.

[Air Tahoe]

 OK thank you. I got nervous didn't want to do any damage.  I thought I would ask for advice before I got to aggressive with it. I don't remember reading that the color of the hull come up on the sandpaper. 

 Is the next step down 1000? Or 800? 

 O

[Air Tahoe]

Local car wash wanted $110 to hand wash the outside fiberglass. I said no thanks and washed it with some jugs of water and mild soap. I don't have access to a hose at storage and no working on the boat at storage facility. The stickers were pretty difficult to remove. Took almost 2hrs with a heat gun, lots of patience and goo gone: 

 

The right rear was my test area. I forgot to test all 3 steps. This is what it looked like after super duty compound. Lots of fine scratches now. I will try next two steps tomorrow: 

 

 

Having a pretty tough time getting the sticker halo's removed and these simple scruff marks from a dock. I used 1500 wet sand paper and they don't budge and the stickers don't seem to fade much. I am getting a lot of blue coming off with the water. Will try 1000 grit and if I have to 800 grit tomorrow. But hesitant to go down this far. But I figured if I am going to do all this work and tape everything off I should do my best to clean up these areas:

 

I hope it is supposed to LOOK WORST before it looks better????

 

[Michigan boarder]

It is OK for the water to go blue.  Here's some pics of mine, I had LOTS of red water.  I started really agressive, I think 800 grit.  Then up to 1500, the polish, etc.  I have a much smaller boat, and I was easily into 40 hours of wetsanding, and that was just the red, the transom and everything above the rub rail.

[formulaben]

Everything I'm seeing in your description/pics is normal.  I used 1000/1500 grit WET sanding using a random orbital sander and followed up with 3M compound using my DeWalt buffer to get the sticker shadows gone (and in the rough areas of the boat, such as the transom.)  Just go slow, checking your work often and keep it wet, you'll be fine.  The fine scratches will absolutely buff out with compound and polish.

Edited October 19, 2016 by formulaben

[Air Tahoe]

Thanks guys for the confidence booster. I was getting pretty worried as I was wet sanding that it may never come out. But all looks good after going through all the steps. 

This took me 27 hrs. in 3 days.  It is not perfect but I didn't want to spend more time on it. Only had 3 long days at the marina to work on it. Had I done got again, I would have bought an electric sander. Hand wet sanding takes foreeeever and I only did the areas under the stickers. The wool makes such a mess. But much more forgiving then the foam. The foam burnt the hull in a small spot and ripped the pad, so I went back to wool. I used my cheap random orbital buffer for the marine polish and collinite and it saved a ton of time over hand waxing. Blue tape over the plastic and labels is a total must! 

Under the stickers I did, 800 grit, 1500 grit, 2000 grit, super 3M compound wool, Fineese it 3M synthetic/wool, Marine Polish with PTEF, Collinite. 7 steps total. 4 steps for the rest of it.

I used a Honda EU2000 generator and it ran all day in eco mode on one tank with the Dewalt polisher running hard. Having a helper would make this project go much faster. 

Haze appearing on the hull. Stickers removed, took a long time and tedious work: 

 

Wet sanding around the taped labels: 

 

 

Making progress: 

Final look: 

 

 

 

 

I used the heavy duty DEWALT polisher $180, wool pad, would pad and compound foam polishers. and cleaning tool 

Process below: 

Step 0: Hull Cleaner by Starbrite $17 (bought and never used it) washed it by hand with 5 gallons of bottled water, car wash wanted $110

Step 1: Wetsand 800, 1500, 2000 grit  $30

Step 2. 3M 05954 Super Duty Marine Compound  $25- 1 Quart

Step 3: 3M MARINE FINESSE-IT II GLAZE $35 16 OZ

Step 4: Starbrite Marine Polish with PTEF to prevent oxidation and seal the finish $25

Step 5. Collimate insulator Wax 845 $20 to keep the hull slick and shiny and easy to apply twice a year 

Step 6: New registration stickers $10

=Total cost $342

Tons of left over product for future projects. Only used 1/4 of the compound. 

As noted above this article is so helpful: http://www.fiberglassics.com/RESTORATION/RESTORING-GEL-COAT

[Pnwrider]

16 minutes ago, Air Tahoe said:

 

Step 6: New registration stickers $10

=Total cost $342

Turned out great! After all that hard work it would be a shame to put some ugly mail box numbers on the hull. Spend a little more and get some domed numbers decals for your registration numbers. 

[formulaben]

^ what he said.  Look great!  Love the blue.

[Michigan boarder]

Nice job!!

[abattle10]

I'm hoping to piggyback off of some of the knowledge in this thread. I'm hoping to remove oxidation from my LSV. This summer was not friendly to our hoist and long story short the boat spent a lot of time half in the water.

The result (shame on me)

Im working with a makita rotary polisher at 1500 rpm with a wool pad and hula boat care's "riptide" liquid compound. After about an hour of work, it's no longer sticking out like a sore thumb but I'm still getting a hazy/foggyness where the oxidation was. 

Here's a picture from above:

But once you shine some light on it...

Is there anything wrong with my process? Do I need to move to a heavier compound or do I just need to put some more time and elbow grease into it?

 

Edited December 10, 2016 by abattle10
added info

[formulaben]

What compounds are you using?

[abattle10]

@formulaben it's the hula boat care "riptide liquid compound"

[Pnwrider]

3 minutes ago, abattle10 said:

@formulaben it's the hula boat care "riptide liquid compound"

You're most likely gonna have to wet sand that to get the oxidation out. 

[abattle10]

I was hoping to avoid wetsanding due to my inexperience. I think I'm going to give it a little more time tomorrow with the rotary and if I don't make any progress I'll bite the bullet and try wetsanding 

[MadMan]

9 hours ago, abattle10 said:

I was hoping to avoid wetsanding due to my inexperience. I think I'm going to give it a little more time tomorrow with the rotary and if I don't make any progress I'll bite the bullet and try wetsanding 

Wet sanding is pretty intimidating, taking sandpaper to your hull just seems wrong.  And during the process, it goes from bad to worse, because you can't see the results until you polish it again.

[formulaben]

If you're dead set on no wet sanding then at least use a cutting compound with a wool pad then work your way to a medium compound then polish.

[minnmarker]

On 12/10/2016 at 11:21 AM, abattle10 said:

I'm hoping to piggyback off of some of the knowledge in this thread. I'm hoping to remove oxidation from my LSV. This summer was not friendly to our hoist and long story short the boat spent a lot of time half in the water.

The result (shame on me)

 

That does not look like oxidation.  That looks like something from the water that is now on your hull - so you should clean it before you start removing gel coat.  Muriatic acid works wonders but use only if you have a hose handy so you can rinse before it starts eating the trailer or running gear.  Acid does not hurt the gel coat but it'll eat the metal boat and trailer parts if you let it sit for more than a few minutes.  I brushed on full strength with a brush on the end of a broom handle (deck scrubbing brush), let it sit for about a minute then scrub and rinse with lots of water.  Wear goggles, rubber gloves, and long sleeves and pants.  It took the previous owners ?? years of sitting in the water scale, slime, brown gunk, whatever right off.

[Fffrank]

Just go to the wetsanding.  Gel-coat is thick.  Use a block and do it by hand.  It's the only way you're going to get through the oxidation.  Start with 800 grit if you're nervous.