Mark42
Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 9,334
The blue gel coat on my '62 Niagara has seen better days and because it is rather thick (at least 1/16") I planned to buff it out right from the start. I did not have much success on various attempts using hand power or a buffing wheel in a drill. <br /><br />What finally worked was this: <br /><br />1) Use the coarsest Scotch-Brite pad with Comet Cleanser (not the Soft Scrub version, the good old abrasive Comet) and really scrub the finish. Scrub until the cleaning solution starts to turn the color of the gel coat. That means the oxidized surface is coming off.<br /><br />2) Wash the surface clean. What is left is a really dull and even finish minus all the motley white patches, discoloration and surface stains.<br /><br />3) Using a 7" polisher (not a drill, use a real polishing machine) with a wool bonnet set at around 600-800 rpm start polishing the surface using RUBBING compound. Just slap some compound on the surface with your fingers, smear it around and apply the polisher. Things will start to look shiney real fast. Whoo-Hoo!! <br /><br />4) Repeat polishing using #7 POLISHING compound at higher speeds, maybe 1000 rpm. Now it really shines... Better than the finish on my cars. <br /><br />5) You can stop here and wax, or go one more step of polishing using a product like Liquid Ebony before waxing.<br /><br />I only did a few feet of the gunnel last night because we had to run out to attend the last Boat Smart class and take the test (I got a 95, wife got a 98!). Cinthia could not believe the finish that the polisher produced. I am rather impressed with the results and how easy it was.<br /><br />There are still some age cracks and deep scratches that I am just going to leave as is. The fact is that when you stand 4 feet away, you can't see any of them, and the reflection makes it look 300% better.<br /><br />Will post some before/after pics hopefully this weekend after I finish the whole boat.<br /><br />A side note: The real trick to making this work is the scrubbing to expose good gel coat, then polishing with a real polishing tool. I didn't own one, and tried to rent one with no luck. I saw that they run $180 to $300 at the stores, well beyond my budget. I decided to buy the cheapest one I could find on the internet. It is a Makita knock-off, made in China, and cost $28 plus $12 shipping. Name brand is American Tool Exchange. <br /><br />I would have prefered to buy a nice one, but decided if the cheap-o lives to finish the boat, I got my moneys worth. I bought mine at http://www.avidpure.com as a promo special. Here is the exact same polisher for sale on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20782&item=4314369051&rd=1 <br /><br />Other cheap-o models are available at harborfreight.com<br /><br />Mark.
<br /><br /><br />Oh. I also have some 3M restorer & wax. I assume that would be the last step? I take it once you get the best shine you can get you'd want to wax it? Should I use the restorer/wax or just a normal wax?