Best Method For Restoring High-gloss Finish to Gel Coat

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Author Topic:   Best Method For Restoring High-gloss Finish to Gel Coat

Powergroove803 posted 04-02-2012 01:11 PM ET (US)
What [method, technique, and specific material such as brands and products] do you guys like best for [removing] oxidation [and restoring a high-gloss finish to the gel coat layer of a Boston Whaler boat]? [Is there] anything that involves less work than wetsanding or buffing? Compounding [that is, applying a compound to the surface of the gel coat] with 3M [unspecified products] is what I am looking at. I hate waxing, compounding, and all that, so I [am] looking [for] any alternatives that work well.
IGN posted 04-02-2012 06:11 PM ET (US)
You can always wet sand. The 3M-products, especialy the rubbing compound, have worked great. Some people here swear by Bush Magic.
Jefecinco posted 04-03-2012 10:37 AM ET (US)
Power,
Best case scenario will require buffing. There is no magic bullet for removing oxidation from a hull.
Well, you can always hire a detailer to take care of it. In that case I guess your wallet could be considered a magic bullet. ;=)
Butch
Powergroove803 posted 04-04-2012 09:19 AM ET (US)
yea that was what I was afraid of. I hit it with a cheap buffer and the 3M compounding stuff then follwed with a West marine or Ocean's natural(?) rubbing compound and it actually took most of the oxidation off, but this boat is an 1977 and it still looks old, but better.
whats the next step? Wax?
Jefecinco posted 04-04-2012 10:16 AM ET (US)
Wax is absolutely necessary to keep the oxidation at bay.
Better is wax protected by a good boat cover. A cover will make a huge difference in the amount of work required to keep your boat looking good.
Butch
Phil T posted 04-04-2012 10:21 AM ET (US)
If you run your hand over the fiberglass and you have whitish residue on your hand you have heavy oxidation. A heavy duty rubbing compound is suggested.
If no residue, go with a medium compound. I like Meguire's brand.
After that use a finishing compound like Finess-it. After that, boat wax.
You can substitute wet sanding for the heavy duty compound. Use two different grits. Most automotive supply stores have the correct grit (in the 1000's).
Do a search on "wet sanding" and you can learn the correct grits and technique.
Heavy duty compound or wet sand
Medium duty compound
Finishing compound
Wax
Going from wet sanding to wax takes a lot of time. Figure 8-10 hours to do it properly. Be patient and do each step in sections.
martyn1075 posted 04-04-2012 10:29 AM ET (US)
Powergroove made a good point on using the right buffer. I cheaped out one time only and I wasn't happy with the results. It still depends on how bad the oxidation is in the first place. A regular old wallmart buffer can do the job with good quality pads but it has it's limitations. In order to get the hard oxidation off ususally on the top sides of the boat quite offten you need the equipment which is a variable speed buffer. They require higher speeds to dig through the oxidation that is the layers of the gelcoat.
The problem that can occur with these units is they are so powerfull one can do more damage then good if not used correctly. They are also much more expensive and require pads bonnets and of course the compounds polishes to get the job done right. I Invested in the pads and simply just rent the machine for a day when certain areas of my boat will not respond to the cheaper buffer.
martyn1075 posted 04-04-2012 10:40 AM ET (US)
"Going from wet sanding to wax takes a lot of time. Figure 8-10 hours to do it properly. Be patient and do each step in sections."
Very good point I can't stress this enough either. If you push it you will likely miss some areas and it just ends up causing more frustsation and more time. I didn't find it that hard just takes time and a little pride in your work and eventually you will have one nice showroom looking Boston Whaler unless the boat was behond help in the first place.
whalerdude posted 04-06-2012 09:00 AM ET (US)
3m marine products has a great u tube tutorial that will help train you to do the job right.
They start with a hull that is in pretty bad shape and needed wet sanding. I did not need this step on my boat.
Next step would be application do 3m imperial glaze compound. I applied using a porter cable random orbital buffer and foam pads. I bought my buffer , pads, and polishing cloths at Griot's garage.com
Once you have a nice finish with the imperial glaze apply 3m finessit polishing compound also using the polisher and a fresh foam pad. This will really blow you away when you see the results from this step.
Next step is application of wax. I used 3m wax applied by hand with a small foam pad. Use griots polishing cloths to remove wax and you will be thrilled with the result.
When I pull into the harbor with my outrage I get many stares tue to the extreme gloss of my boat!
Tohsgib posted 04-06-2012 12:18 PM ET (US)
try 600+ grit wetsand, then either imperial glaze or rubbing compound next then wax, should look as good as it is gonna get.
Binkster posted 04-06-2012 01:13 PM ET (US)
Isn't 600 grit abit rough, and you don't go up from that?? I haven't done my 15 footer as of yet, so maybe gel coat is different than paint, but wetsand paint or even my bowling balls that are made from resin and you will get a dull finish. I would figure you might start with 600-800 and work your way up in increments to at least 2000 or higher. I sand my bowling ball with 800 grit if the lanes have heavy oil and I need to get the ball to grip. I mean you can see the scratches in the ball.
L H G posted 04-06-2012 02:56 PM ET (US)
On a Montauk I bought over a year ago, stored indoors and unused for over 20 years, the center console had turned yellowish due to no sun exposure.
After stipping the console bare, and removing from the boat, I tried the 3M "Imperial Compound and Finishing Material", one of my favorites. To my surprise, it would not touch the yellowing.
So I went to wet sanding, beginning with #400. This got rid of the yellow. From there I wet sanded up through the grades of 600, 1000, 1500 & 2000. Then I did as Jack did, using the Imperial, followed by the Finesse-it, and finally an automotive glazing compound, Kit Scratch-Out.
The resulting gloss is incredible, much better than the factory gloss on my other consoles.
I also had to do this to get rid of a painted-on name on the hull sides. Same mirror gloss result, with no indication that a name was ever there.
In my opinion the 3M Imperial and Finesse-it products are absolutely the best you can buy for maintaining a high gloss boat. Don't waste your money on the other brands.
I have been there and done that over the last 40 years of Whaler owership.
dfmcintyre posted 04-06-2012 07:25 PM ET (US)
Larry -
You wet sanding by hand or using air and something like this:
http://www.hutchinsmfg.com/
Don
Jessielove posted 04-06-2012 08:13 PM ET (US)
Whalerdude,
Thanks for the heads-up on the 3m marine refinishing how to video, I found it quite informative. Here is a link to it so you don't have to search for it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke5kfYz9Ybw
jimh posted 04-06-2012 08:25 PM ET (US)
Jessie--many thanks for hyperlink to the information. The only way to talk about information on the internet is with uniform resource locators and hyperlinks.
contender posted 04-07-2012 09:02 PM ET (US)
Bink is correct: u need to work your way up to the 2000 grit paper then go with the polish
Powergroove803 posted 04-08-2012 08:34 PM ET (US)
Nice video, I found all od the 3M products at Oreillys Auto parts, but they were in the back, not for display, for professionals only and only by request.....literally a shelf full of the "good stuff" in the back.
After 3 days of sanding, compounding, and waxing, my old boat still looks much better from 20 feet, what we call a "20 foot finish", much like some women I know!
Binkster posted 04-08-2012 09:58 PM ET (US)
Pgroove did you find any women to help you sand and buff your Whaler? If you did they probably would have done a better job. I just signed up 3 women to help me, my ex, and our two adult daughters, and they ain't 20 footers either. I'll post pics when it happens.
rich
Powergroove803 posted 04-09-2012 10:50 AM ET (US)
My wife actually did help me, she thought it would help build her "guns"...right now I call her Olive Oil because her arms are so skinny, so she needs some guns. she did work on it for about 3 hours which totally helped my tired arms out.
Her other thought is the sooner I am finished with this boat project the sooner she will get me to work on her "honey-do" list.
BQUICK posted 04-09-2012 12:02 PM ET (US)
If heavily oxidized:
I duct tape 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper on a sponge. Then more up to 1500. Use lots of water to flush the oxidation away. Then use a polishing compound, finally wax.
Basshole posted 04-09-2012 12:05 PM ET (US)
Power- Did you mean "good from far, but far from good"? Some really good advice here. I love the 3M products as well, especially the Finesse it glaze.
elaelap posted 04-09-2012 01:13 PM ET (US)
The "best method"? Hire several neighborhood kids for twenty bucks each to spend a warm Spring's day doing all the grunt work by hand (no power tools!). You provide the materials plus a cooler of sodas, get 'em started, then retreat into your house for several hours with windows closed tightly against the loud rap music from their boom boxes.
Won't turn out quite as nice as Larry/LHG's, but then again...sure beats doing the work yourself.
Tuco
Binkster posted 04-09-2012 02:20 PM ET (US)
Tony,
Everything in life is the result of 'effort equals results.' Your idea requires only the effort of parting with 3 or 4 twenties. Not much effort at all. Have you ever seen "neighborhood kids" make any effort to do anything especially without supervision? Sanding is not just rubbing any which way on a surface, and it takes some effort and knowledge to do it right. I take it you have little experience in doing a a job like this. Maybe if you, yourself knew how to do it and got a couple of trainees to help you and learn, it would work, but then again that would take some effort which you are trying to avoid.
This is a very poor idea on your part, I would think.
It reminds me of a joke:
Seems this homeless guy was looking to make a few bucks, and was walking by this apparently well off attorneys estate. so he knocks on the door and asks if there is anything he can do to make some money. The attorney thinks for a moment, then says yes, you can paint my porch. Go around back to my garage and you will find a bucket of green paint and a paint brush. The homeless man thanks him and disappears round back. An hour goes buy and the homeless man doesn't return. Well, the attorney thinks, I guess he didn't want the job after all.
So another hour goes buy and the homeless man knocks on the front door. Well, I'm all done, he proclaims, and by the way your car isn't a Porsche, its a Mercedes.
rich
elaelap posted 04-10-2012 02:34 PM ET (US)
Heh, heh, Binks. Luckily no one will ever mistake my VW or my seven-year-old Tacoma for a Porsche.
While I love spending weeks every winter refinishing the wood on my classic Whalers, I truly HATE waxing cars and boats (and my cars and boats show it, to a degree). I've never had to deal with radical oxidation on any of my Whalers, so the neighborhood kids trip, once a year, has worked out just fine for me. Would I turn them loose with sandpaper on my boats' gelcoat? No way.
Tony
John McBride posted 04-11-2012 09:47 PM ET (US)
I like Aqua-Buff, http://www.aqua-buff.com/ , call the distributor and talk to them about how to do it correctly and you will be beyond pleased.

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Author	Topic: Best Method For Restoring High-gloss Finish to Gel Coat
Powergroove803	posted 04-02-2012 01:11 PM ET (US) What [method, technique, and specific material such as brands and products] do you guys like best for [removing] oxidation [and restoring a high-gloss finish to the gel coat layer of a Boston Whaler boat]? [Is there] anything that involves less work than wetsanding or buffing? Compounding [that is, applying a compound to the surface of the gel coat] with 3M [unspecified products] is what I am looking at. I hate waxing, compounding, and all that, so I [am] looking [for] any alternatives that work well.
IGN	posted 04-02-2012 06:11 PM ET (US) You can always wet sand. The 3M-products, especialy the rubbing compound, have worked great. Some people here swear by Bush Magic.
Jefecinco	posted 04-03-2012 10:37 AM ET (US) Power, Best case scenario will require buffing. There is no magic bullet for removing oxidation from a hull. Well, you can always hire a detailer to take care of it. In that case I guess your wallet could be considered a magic bullet. ;=) Butch
Powergroove803	posted 04-04-2012 09:19 AM ET (US) yea that was what I was afraid of. I hit it with a cheap buffer and the 3M compounding stuff then follwed with a West marine or Ocean's natural(?) rubbing compound and it actually took most of the oxidation off, but this boat is an 1977 and it still looks old, but better. whats the next step? Wax?
Jefecinco	posted 04-04-2012 10:16 AM ET (US) Wax is absolutely necessary to keep the oxidation at bay. Better is wax protected by a good boat cover. A cover will make a huge difference in the amount of work required to keep your boat looking good. Butch
Phil T	posted 04-04-2012 10:21 AM ET (US) If you run your hand over the fiberglass and you have whitish residue on your hand you have heavy oxidation. A heavy duty rubbing compound is suggested. If no residue, go with a medium compound. I like Meguire's brand. After that use a finishing compound like Finess-it. After that, boat wax. You can substitute wet sanding for the heavy duty compound. Use two different grits. Most automotive supply stores have the correct grit (in the 1000's). Do a search on "wet sanding" and you can learn the correct grits and technique. Heavy duty compound or wet sand Medium duty compound Finishing compound Wax Going from wet sanding to wax takes a lot of time. Figure 8-10 hours to do it properly. Be patient and do each step in sections.
martyn1075	posted 04-04-2012 10:29 AM ET (US) Powergroove made a good point on using the right buffer. I cheaped out one time only and I wasn't happy with the results. It still depends on how bad the oxidation is in the first place. A regular old wallmart buffer can do the job with good quality pads but it has it's limitations. In order to get the hard oxidation off ususally on the top sides of the boat quite offten you need the equipment which is a variable speed buffer. They require higher speeds to dig through the oxidation that is the layers of the gelcoat. The problem that can occur with these units is they are so powerfull one can do more damage then good if not used correctly. They are also much more expensive and require pads bonnets and of course the compounds polishes to get the job done right. I Invested in the pads and simply just rent the machine for a day when certain areas of my boat will not respond to the cheaper buffer.
martyn1075	posted 04-04-2012 10:40 AM ET (US) "Going from wet sanding to wax takes a lot of time. Figure 8-10 hours to do it properly. Be patient and do each step in sections." Very good point I can't stress this enough either. If you push it you will likely miss some areas and it just ends up causing more frustsation and more time. I didn't find it that hard just takes time and a little pride in your work and eventually you will have one nice showroom looking Boston Whaler unless the boat was behond help in the first place.
whalerdude	posted 04-06-2012 09:00 AM ET (US) 3m marine products has a great u tube tutorial that will help train you to do the job right. They start with a hull that is in pretty bad shape and needed wet sanding. I did not need this step on my boat. Next step would be application do 3m imperial glaze compound. I applied using a porter cable random orbital buffer and foam pads. I bought my buffer , pads, and polishing cloths at Griot's garage.com Once you have a nice finish with the imperial glaze apply 3m finessit polishing compound also using the polisher and a fresh foam pad. This will really blow you away when you see the results from this step. Next step is application of wax. I used 3m wax applied by hand with a small foam pad. Use griots polishing cloths to remove wax and you will be thrilled with the result. When I pull into the harbor with my outrage I get many stares tue to the extreme gloss of my boat!
Tohsgib	posted 04-06-2012 12:18 PM ET (US) try 600+ grit wetsand, then either imperial glaze or rubbing compound next then wax, should look as good as it is gonna get.
Binkster	posted 04-06-2012 01:13 PM ET (US) Isn't 600 grit abit rough, and you don't go up from that?? I haven't done my 15 footer as of yet, so maybe gel coat is different than paint, but wetsand paint or even my bowling balls that are made from resin and you will get a dull finish. I would figure you might start with 600-800 and work your way up in increments to at least 2000 or higher. I sand my bowling ball with 800 grit if the lanes have heavy oil and I need to get the ball to grip. I mean you can see the scratches in the ball.
L H G	posted 04-06-2012 02:56 PM ET (US) On a Montauk I bought over a year ago, stored indoors and unused for over 20 years, the center console had turned yellowish due to no sun exposure. After stipping the console bare, and removing from the boat, I tried the 3M "Imperial Compound and Finishing Material", one of my favorites. To my surprise, it would not touch the yellowing. So I went to wet sanding, beginning with #400. This got rid of the yellow. From there I wet sanded up through the grades of 600, 1000, 1500 & 2000. Then I did as Jack did, using the Imperial, followed by the Finesse-it, and finally an automotive glazing compound, Kit Scratch-Out. The resulting gloss is incredible, much better than the factory gloss on my other consoles. I also had to do this to get rid of a painted-on name on the hull sides. Same mirror gloss result, with no indication that a name was ever there. In my opinion the 3M Imperial and Finesse-it products are absolutely the best you can buy for maintaining a high gloss boat. Don't waste your money on the other brands. I have been there and done that over the last 40 years of Whaler owership.
dfmcintyre	posted 04-06-2012 07:25 PM ET (US) Larry - You wet sanding by hand or using air and something like this: http://www.hutchinsmfg.com/ Don
Jessielove	posted 04-06-2012 08:13 PM ET (US) Whalerdude, Thanks for the heads-up on the 3m marine refinishing how to video, I found it quite informative. Here is a link to it so you don't have to search for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke5kfYz9Ybw
jimh	posted 04-06-2012 08:25 PM ET (US) Jessie--many thanks for hyperlink to the information. The only way to talk about information on the internet is with uniform resource locators and hyperlinks.
contender	posted 04-07-2012 09:02 PM ET (US) Bink is correct: u need to work your way up to the 2000 grit paper then go with the polish
Powergroove803	posted 04-08-2012 08:34 PM ET (US) Nice video, I found all od the 3M products at Oreillys Auto parts, but they were in the back, not for display, for professionals only and only by request.....literally a shelf full of the "good stuff" in the back. After 3 days of sanding, compounding, and waxing, my old boat still looks much better from 20 feet, what we call a "20 foot finish", much like some women I know!
Binkster	posted 04-08-2012 09:58 PM ET (US) Pgroove did you find any women to help you sand and buff your Whaler? If you did they probably would have done a better job. I just signed up 3 women to help me, my ex, and our two adult daughters, and they ain't 20 footers either. I'll post pics when it happens. rich
Powergroove803	posted 04-09-2012 10:50 AM ET (US) My wife actually did help me, she thought it would help build her "guns"...right now I call her Olive Oil because her arms are so skinny, so she needs some guns. she did work on it for about 3 hours which totally helped my tired arms out. Her other thought is the sooner I am finished with this boat project the sooner she will get me to work on her "honey-do" list.
BQUICK	posted 04-09-2012 12:02 PM ET (US) If heavily oxidized: I duct tape 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper on a sponge. Then more up to 1500. Use lots of water to flush the oxidation away. Then use a polishing compound, finally wax.
Basshole	posted 04-09-2012 12:05 PM ET (US) Power- Did you mean "good from far, but far from good"? Some really good advice here. I love the 3M products as well, especially the Finesse it glaze.
elaelap	posted 04-09-2012 01:13 PM ET (US) The "best method"? Hire several neighborhood kids for twenty bucks each to spend a warm Spring's day doing all the grunt work by hand (no power tools!). You provide the materials plus a cooler of sodas, get 'em started, then retreat into your house for several hours with windows closed tightly against the loud rap music from their boom boxes. Won't turn out quite as nice as Larry/LHG's, but then again...sure beats doing the work yourself. Tuco
Binkster	posted 04-09-2012 02:20 PM ET (US) Tony, Everything in life is the result of 'effort equals results.' Your idea requires only the effort of parting with 3 or 4 twenties. Not much effort at all. Have you ever seen "neighborhood kids" make any effort to do anything especially without supervision? Sanding is not just rubbing any which way on a surface, and it takes some effort and knowledge to do it right. I take it you have little experience in doing a a job like this. Maybe if you, yourself knew how to do it and got a couple of trainees to help you and learn, it would work, but then again that would take some effort which you are trying to avoid. This is a very poor idea on your part, I would think. It reminds me of a joke: Seems this homeless guy was looking to make a few bucks, and was walking by this apparently well off attorneys estate. so he knocks on the door and asks if there is anything he can do to make some money. The attorney thinks for a moment, then says yes, you can paint my porch. Go around back to my garage and you will find a bucket of green paint and a paint brush. The homeless man thanks him and disappears round back. An hour goes buy and the homeless man doesn't return. Well, the attorney thinks, I guess he didn't want the job after all. So another hour goes buy and the homeless man knocks on the front door. Well, I'm all done, he proclaims, and by the way your car isn't a Porsche, its a Mercedes. rich
elaelap	posted 04-10-2012 02:34 PM ET (US) Heh, heh, Binks. Luckily no one will ever mistake my VW or my seven-year-old Tacoma for a Porsche. While I love spending weeks every winter refinishing the wood on my classic Whalers, I truly HATE waxing cars and boats (and my cars and boats show it, to a degree). I've never had to deal with radical oxidation on any of my Whalers, so the neighborhood kids trip, once a year, has worked out just fine for me. Would I turn them loose with sandpaper on my boats' gelcoat? No way. Tony
John McBride	posted 04-11-2012 09:47 PM ET (US) I like Aqua-Buff, http://www.aqua-buff.com/ , call the distributor and talk to them about how to do it correctly and you will be beyond pleased.