Question about wet sanding.

[Judson1]

When I bought this boat back in October it had a worn out sticker by the gas cap. I peeled it off and it surprised me that underneath looked a lighter color. More silverish. I assumed the boat being 8 years that maybe it had faded some. I have tried to polish and wax to make it more like what was under the sticker but no luck. Overall I think the finish doesn’t look faded at all. But even where you lift up a deck lid the covered part is lighter. So it must have faded. Do u think having it wet sanded would help? I am attaching a picture of where the sticker was. It was right by the cap. It really shows up on cloudy days or in the evening.

[redxdu]

From my experience wet sanding generally does not restore color, it only removes oxidation and cloudiness that reduces the shine of your outermost gel coat. Typically when the metal flake fades, like what I think happened on yours, that fading is not repairable because it's the metal flake that is well below the clear gel coat that is faded, and you can't touch that with anything.

That being said, I'm not an expert... but I have wet sanded 3 or 4 boats in the past. I would ask your question over on the bass boat restoration page, there are some guys over there that are legitimate professionals at gel coat restoration. They'll be able to answer your questions.

[crank68]

I prolly touch 100 boats a year in my shop....that being said I see this all the time. “Most” cases the sun will turn most gels darker than they originally were. Get you another gas sticker and roll on.