Looking for buffing/polishing advice

06Rinker270

That is why I am looking for a lift and covered slip!  Money I spend on the slip will more than pay for itself.   

TikiHut2

Look who's lurking out there. I have my eye on you guys and those nice finishes. 

Hey, Resist the urge to start on the sides and then do the decks. If you do the sides first you'll be putting your hard earned work at risk when you clean and scour the decks if anything runs down the sides.

The whole discussion about keeping the wool pad and buffing surface wet was covered at length in the tutorial that was posted. Glad it was helpful.

Ras, it looks like you found the right process or at least something close. That pic looks awesome. Congrats!

If there's anything I've learned about up keep on gelcoat it's that you must avoid harsh soaps and always try to use soft water to wash with and then always, always wipe down the hull before it dries. Think of the mineral buildup on a glass door that's hosed down time-after-time and how that skanky mineral haze builds up.

Keep me in mind as we patiently waited out the winter season and now hope to find the next owner for our TikiHut soon. Send me a lead if you know anybody looking. I'll be around now and then to help with my archive of mods if I can.

Cya guys. Mike

ones and threes

I bought my 232 captiva last year and it was very badly sun damaged by uv rays plus stored for years in a storage yard that had a road of some kind of black ash. It was a mess. It is mostly white with just thin stripe and minimal graphics.  I used Poli Glow on it,  scrubbed the **** out of the surface, used hull cleaners and the special cleaner they supply in the kit, no sanding, just cleaning. Applied with the supplied mit.  After the third coat the shine really started to show. Allpied five coats and it looks like a brand new boat.  I use it in fresh water only, Lake St Clair.  After one season and 20 trips, I keep it on a trailer, still looks like new.  very pleased with this stuff. You dont need to polish it, just wash with mild car soap.  You can apply a coat or two every year if you want, right over the old stuff.  I get lots of compliments and people cant believe its a 16 year old boat.  

DanD2

This Poli Glow looks like a good product!!
In doing a bunch of research , some folks are using zep floor finish and are getting great, long lasting results. The rv community has been using this on their gelcoats for years now. I might give it a try!

rasbury

 I tried the ZEP on my last boat as a guy I work with swore by it after putting it on his bad finish gelcoat motor home.....I did not like the result. I think if you have a really bad finish it makes it look much better- if you already have a good finish, it really does not add anything to it. I had problems with it running and I mostly sanded it back off as I did not like how it looked. He also used it on his boat which was in bad shape and it looked much better without doing any buffing or sanding, just made the bad finish look much better....good to see Tiki still in the mix and if I hear of anyone in the market will send them your way- If it were a year ago before I bought my boat, I'd be there looking. Tiki was a great help with info (as well as many others) when I tracked down the boat I did purchase.

summerx

OK, my arms and shoulders are so sore I can barely type this, but my weekend trial with Wizards products are done. I am happy with the results. I washed the boat down and sprayed the entire hull with nautical ease boat cleaner and even some startbrite hull cleaner (oxalic acid) for a few tough stains. Then I used the Wizards Mystic cut and a mcguires wool pad and then followed with shine master sealant.
this is a 14yo boat which is outside year round, albeit under shrinkwrap for half the year.
I still need to do the transom and the metal polish, but we are getting closer.

I have never needed to compound a boat before, so I have no real comparison, but thought that the removal of the mystic cut was difficult. I only did 2-3' sections of the hull at a time, and then removed the compound but still needed to use 2 rags, one that was pretty damp, almost wet, and then a dry one. I kept the wool pad damp throughout, so not sure if this is normal or not.
the shinemaster could have been wiped off by my 7 year olds. Now just hoping it holds up.
I wanted to post a pic, but am technically challenged and cant figure out how?

summerx

The first picture was taken of the same view, same angle of the step ladder.  before and after waxing.
I figured out my pic posting issue as well, I couldn't see the icon's on IE, but could on firefox.

TikiHut2

A job to be proud of. She looks awesome!

MarkB

Well done.

raybo3

Looks great...

rasbury

A little TLC goes a long way!

summerx

thanks everyone.  I was happy with how it worked out.  Last yr I paid a company to do this, and the outcome was lousy, so this year I decided to do it right.  now that I am done, I am glad I did.  wasn't so sure over the weekend while my arms were burning...lol.

craigswardmtb

It certainly makes you feel good when you know you did it right.  Below was my finished product using Presta Super Cut Compound prior to polish.

Handymans342

Ok, show a pic 3 months from now. 

rasbury

don't bust his bubble Handy.....great job!

TikiHut2

Awesome finish. She's a gem and it shows.

I think it'll hold up very well, as long it's kept clean and it's washed correctly. I may have a slick showroom finish on my car today but if I didn't wash it for months at a time it'd be a mess and covered with layers upon layers of dried micro mineral deposits and scratchy crud that'd damage/wreck my finish when I did wash it.

It hadn't dawned on me that I might be damaging my finish when I used my hard well water to do a washdown until our former member MT taught us to keep those daily layers of accumulated stuff off the boat with a quick weekly soft water rinse (no harsh soaps allowed) and an immediate soft towel wipe down to prevent yet another layer of sand paper like mineral deposits.

 Newly compounded gelcoat is tough stuff and slick but waxing over micro scratches is a fruitless, temporary effort that only gives more abrasive crud an exponentially  better foothold after every improper wash down.

Hey, You (probably) wouldn't date a gal who only got a monthly bath (well, most of you ) and then used the equivalent of lye soap when she did. That old scally wag would be in need of an extreme make over in less than one season and it'd take more than a little rubbing compound to bring her back to showroom shape.  

Just sayin', give your gal a bath at least once a week for better hygiene and longevity....... and your boat too.  

Mike

summerx

very interesting points Mike.  My first thought is how do I give it a "soft water" bath?  I am basically limited to the water supply at my marina unless there is a product available to soften water from the hose available?

DanD2

I'm going to go the Poli-Glow route this year. All my stuff came in yesterday and I will be doing the cleaning part this weekend. I'll post pics as I go along.

TikiHut2

I have an outside faucet at my house that comes directly from my water softener so that's the solution for a road warrior. MT had a cool device that treated the water dockside. If both of those are out of the question then try your best to keep it clean and don't let well water (or even some city water supplies) dry on the hull after rinsing. Hit it with a towel right away and it'll prevent most deposits from hardening on the gelcoat.

If it does dry, the only real way to get the layers of micro mineral deposits off will be a light compounding at the end of season. Even that's not a disaster, just an excuse to work on your upper body strength

It's not uncommon for me to anchor at the sandbar in a way that I can easily rub down the side that's in the shade....... but that just proves I'd rather be messing about on my boat than sitting in the sun.

Hey, have a great season and Good luck, Mike

TikiHut2

Terry did it absolutely right and it shows. Here's a detailed link to everything you need to know from an OCD detail guy. There's no short cuts when doing this, just persistence. I followed it to the last detail (except with a $29 Harbor Freight buffer) and our boat is looking like a showroom finish. You can do it.

Good luck. Mike

http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=117266

TikiHut2

Here's the bible on restoring and maintaining a perfect gelcoat finish. I used it to get the perfect job. Don't cut corners, except maybe using a Harbor Freight buffer instead of a $200 Makita.

Good luck, Michael

http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=117266

TikiHut2

Here's the bible on restoring and maintaining a perfect gelcoat finish. I used it to get the perfect job. Don't cut corners, except maybe using a Harbor Freight buffer instead of a $200 Makita.

Good luck, Michael

http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=117266