Clear coat after sanding?

[BalsaBee]

Premium clear coat is expensive 250 to 500 a gal and most boats are worth 3500 and when you tell a guy 10,000 to redo his 3500 boat he says no thanks and that is where we get into a problem he or the shop buys the cheap shit for 40 bucks a gal and bingo it last about 1-2 years in the sun.Good news is it was cheap!

Bad news is it looks worse than when you originally started.........so in the end take Pat's initial advice.

Sand, compound, and polish then use the protec. Then go fishing.

[TOUCH OF CLASS]

That’s another option

[BalsaBee]

That’s another option

and how many guys have you talked in to this option?

When you tell a guy 10,000 to redo his 3500 boat he says no thanks!

[TOUCH OF CLASS]

Give guys the option and price you decide how much money you have to or want to spend.Some guys are cheap some guys the sky is the limit.If you only have 400 than your not getting the best that’s for sure!
Heres the question I’ll ask you since your a expert why does the gel coat that’s bad ass deteriort ?Why do I have to refinish a boat that had gel coat ?Why does it crack ?Because it’s garbage in most cases.I have automotive paint that’s been on what ever for 20 years that still looks like the day we applied it.Side note don’t expect a bad gel coat job to look good or last either.You get what you pay for .

[pmgoffjr]

What the heck is the deal with circle talk??? Jeeeesh I hate people to can't speak plain English.

EVERY gel coat built by EVERY boat builder is subject to ozone and UV damage. Some are better than others, but all are prone, you leave anything uncovered out in the sun and it'll fade and look like crap.

Now you have the magic pill, but it's ten grand? And that's advice? Really?

Tell the truth, be helpful, the truth is, he needs to compound it out, polish and finish it with a good product and go fishing. THAT is the truth, NOT "you can shoot clear" and then run away and snicker as everyone who has the slightest clue wonders what the heck you're talking about.

[ChampioNman]

Get a bottle of Future floor polish and a paint brush, it will last as long as shooting auto clear.

[BalsaBee]

I’ll ask you since your a expert why does the gel coat that’s bad ass deteriort ?Why do I have to refinish a boat that had gel coat ?Why does it crack ?Because it’s garbage in most cases.I have automotive paint that’s been on what ever for 20 years that still looks like the day we applied it.Side note don’t expect a bad gel coat job to look good or last either.You get what you pay for .

Since you asked... Over 65 years of experience in a family owned paint and body shop.

[Tx Champ]

...Over 65 years of experience in a family owned paint and body shop.

That's quite a feat since your profile says you're only 46 ...

[BalsaBee]

That's quite a feat since your profile says you're only 46 ...

hence the word family owned. If you prefer I can say over 100 years of combined experience in a family owned paint and body shop.

[xElxConquistador]

I applaud you! It looks really good. I hope you do post pictures when you feel you have it done. I had to ship my boat back to the factory with the cover on it. It left marks all over my gunwales. One of my buddies from work says he can get them out. That’s happening tomorrow. I guess he’s going to use sandpaper and then a three-step process afterwards to make sure it is sealed. I’m a little leery to say the least. Will use it on an inconspicuous area first. He used to do this for a living. So, there’s a fair amount of trust. We’ll see....

[Jstokes1987]

I applaud you! It looks really good. I hope you do post pictures when you feel you have it done. I had to ship my boat back to the factory with the cover on it. It left marks all over my gunwales. One of my buddies from work says he can get them out. That’s happening tomorrow. I guess he’s going to use sandpaper and then a three-step process afterwards to make sure it is sealed. I’m a little leery to say the least. Will use it on an inconspicuous area first. He used to do this for a living. So, there’s a fair amount of trust. We’ll see....

thank you very much! I feel I will never really be done. I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about wet sanding or how to properly use compound plus polish so it was quite a learning experience and a lot of hard work. I got tons of good info on this site plus watching YouTube vids. It will never be as good as the day it was bought but for a 21 year old boat that spent a lot of time outdoors it’s pretty good. My advice to anyone wanting to tackle a project like this is to make sure you are prepared to put some hard work into it. Total cost for all the products I’ve used on it so far is right around $20. Total hours of labor I would say is coming up on around 40 hours and that’s just doing an hour here and there during the week and several on the weekends. I will pull it out of the garage this afternoon and get some pics of the progress, but here are some before pics.

[TX Cranker]

I just went through this with my '85. I didn't think it could be saved. Wet sanded with 1000, 1500, 2000. I was a bit apprehensive to use rubbing compound so I went with Polish compound with a wool pad first, then polish compound with foam pad, then wax. I used the 3M compound. I hated the hell out the boat while I was doing it. But now am in love again. ha

[86 inches]

I recently did mine. 1500, 2000 and 3000 then the 3M three step Perfect-It rubbing compound, polish and ultrafine polish. I topped it off with carnuba wax. I have the protec sealant and plan to use that soon. The only problem I ran into was with the "Champion" decals on the front of the consoles. I removed the old ones to find that they had bled into the gelcoat. No amount of sanding could remove it and unfortunately, I have not been able to find replacement decals that are an exact match. If you're gonna remove the decals, you should have a plan first. Mine had to come off.

[jarhead175]

Damn that's pretty good job.

[Tx Champ]

I recently did mine. 1500, 2000 and 3000 then the 3M three step Perfect-It rubbing compound, polish and ultrafine polish. I topped it off with carnuba wax. I have the protec sealant and plan to use that soon. The only problem I ran into was with the "Champion" decals on the front of the consoles. I removed the old ones to find that they had bled into the gelcoat. No amount of sanding could remove it and unfortunately, I have not been able to find replacement decals that are an exact match. If you're gonna remove the decals, you should have a plan first. Mine had to come off.

That is one sweet 201. Funny thing is my first Champ (90 176) also came from Smith RV & Marine in Clovis, NM. I knew Jim pretty well back in those days. Small world.

[Jstokes1987]

I recently did mine. 1500, 2000 and 3000 then the 3M three step Perfect-It rubbing compound, polish and ultrafine polish. I topped it off with carnuba wax. I have the protec sealant and plan to use that soon. The only problem I ran into was with the "Champion" decals on the front of the consoles. I removed the old ones to find that they had bled into the gelcoat. No amount of sanding could remove it and unfortunately, I have not been able to find replacement decals that are an exact match. If you're gonna remove the decals, you should have a plan first. Mine had to come off.

man that looks great! I really need to take mine to 3000 grit. I only took it to 2500 and I feel that 3000 would really help, plus after seeing yours you have me sold.

[86 inches]

That is one sweet 201. Funny thing is my first Champ (90 176) also came from Smith RV & Marine in Clovis, NM. I knew Jim pretty well back in those days. Small world.

I was sorry to hear that he passed a few years back. I didnt know him well but he treated me very fairly when I bought my boat.

[Tx Champ]

Back then, I lived about 90 miles away in Plainview, TX and we had a branch of our business in Clovis. Last contact I had with them, his son James was running the place. That was prior to 96, when I moved to Abilene. Great folks!

[86 inches]

Darryl at IguanaGrafix made me some white contour decals that are a 1/4" larger than his ChampioN logo decal. The white ones cover up the stained gelcoat. The pics don't show it but the center silver in "ChampioN" is metallic flake just like the originals. Not too bad!

[ChampioNman]

Nice!