Buffing gel coat on my project boat

[moldman]

I recently purchased a 1995 Viper 201D by Cobra boats. The hull was in good condition, but squirells had chewed up the seats and the 175 Johnson had one cylinder down. I had the seats redone, pulled the 175 off and replaced it with a 1995 200 Mercury, added SeaStar Pro hydraulic steering, a 12" jack plate and put in a recessed foot control petal box. Then I started on my top cap gelcoat which was faded but not rough. The worst area was the front of the twin consoles where you could feel a little roughness and they were faded more than the rest of the boat. I started with 1000 sandpaper, went to 1500. and then 2000. I then went to 3M Finesee It II and most of it was looking really good except the front of the consoles. I had to drop back to 3M rubbing compound on the front of the consoles before I started getting that deep wet look. There were some other small areas that needed extra attention and then I went over the whole top cap with Mother's carnuba wax. The first 4 pics are before and the others are after. This was my first time attempting this so it was a learning experience for me but one that I enjoyed. Jim


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[BASSCAT7]

It is a lot of elbow grease, but well worth the effort to bring your boat back to looking new.....keep a good coat of Carnauba wax on it and wipe it down with BBS after each use.

Did you use a high speed buffer with the Finnese it ?

Basscat7

[moldman]

Yes I did use a high speed buffer at 1500-2000 rpm on the areas I could. There were areas I had to do by hand and I was pleased at how they came out also. This 3M Finese-It is a very good product for gel coats. Jim

[SwatDawg]

Looks great

[Trent_in_BG]

WOW, made the hull look new. Great job.

[Tone2129]

I have an older boat and I am experiencing oxidation on the same areas that I see in your photo's. I couldn't see any oxidation on your boat, and I am not familiar with the 3M product you used, does this product also help remove oxidation?

[moldman]

I am certainly no expert on this but the general concensus on this site seems to be sandpaper (1000,1500,2000) and wash between each grade and then go to the 3M Finesse-IT. I did find out that the rougher areas worked out better if I used the 3M marine rubbing compound #09004 first. A buffer makes the large open areas go faster but is not absolutely necessary. As I stated in my post the front of my consoles was the worst as I could actually feel some of the flake and the oxidation was the worst there. This process takes some time and elbow grease, but will be worth it when you see what you have accomplished. When you are thru with the compound put a good coat of carnuba wax on. Hope this helps. There are a lot of guys on this site who know a lot more than me and they will answer just about any question you have. Jim

[BASSCAT7]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tone2129 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have an older boat and I am experiencing oxidation on the same areas that I see in your photo's. I couldn't see any oxidation on your boat, and I am not familiar with the 3M product you used, does this product also help remove oxidation?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Finnesse - it is a high grade polish for use after wet sanding, on its own it might remove some very light oxidation, but most will have to be machine compouded off or wet sanded off.

Here are some instructions for wet sanding to remove oxidation from fiberglass:

Most boats can be brought back to look new by doing the wet sanding/compounding/glazing/waxing at home for the costs of the products and a high speed sander if you do not own one...a lot of labor involved, but can save you big $$$$ over a re-clearcoat.

All the peripheral hardware should be removed from the boat, cleats, handrails, lights, windshields, decals, anything that can be unbolted from the top cap and consoles, etc will make the job easier....less obstructions when using the buffer.
You will need a high speed buffer, not an orbital buffer, the high speed produces the heat that makes the compound cut thru the faded clearcoat, you can use a cheap buffer, no need for an expensive model.


Harbor Freight has an inexpensive 3,000 rpm model.

http://www.harborfreight.com/c...2623s

3M waffle polishing pads.....the white one for compounding/cutting and the black pad for glazing/polishing.

Wet Sandpaper in 1200/1500/and 2000 grit. The grit can be matched to the severity of the oxidation...if it is real bad you may have to start with 800 grit and work up to 1200 grit.

3M Perfect It Rubbing Compound # 05973
3M Final Glaze # 06066

Any hard Carnauba Marine Wax

1st step is to remove all the hardware you can.

Wash the boat, remove any tar, bugs , etc stuck on the glass.

2nd step is to wet sand by hand with plenty of water, put a few drops of dishwashing liquid in the sanding water to make the paper slide easier, dunk the paper often to clean the sanded material off the paper.

Start with the 1200 grit, sand the whole area to be redone, rinse off with the hose, repeat with the 1500 grit, and rinse, then again with the 2000 grit....this is very labor intensive , may take you a few days to get thru LOL..., don't sand too hard in one spot, keep feeling the sanded area, if you feel any of the metalflake ( rough , grainy ) stop sanding on that area or you will sand too deep and expose the flakes.

When the sanding is done , wash the boat again to get the glass clean of particles, it will look dull but not faded.

3rd step is using the high speed buffer with the white 3M pad and the rubbing compound, do small areas and move the buffer slowly, not keeping it in one spot or it might burn the gel.
When done compounding wash off the compound and dry the boat.

4th step is using the black 3M pad on the high speed buffer and the 3M final glaze to put on a high gloss glaze coat.

make sure you cover the carpeting in the boat with a tarp or plastic to keep all the material off the rugs.

By this time if their was not any actual gelcoat damage the clearcoat should look almost new again.
The final step is putting on a good coat of high carnauba paste wax....then keep the boat clean by wiping it down as soon as it comes out of the water with one of the spray wipes like Bass Boat Saver..

Pro-Tec makes an excellent polymer sealer for the gelcoat, bonds to the glass and seals the pores to help prevent oxidation.

http://www.protecproducts.com/products.html


Basscat7

[jseasor]

looks great