Re: Buffed through Gel coat
the clear is gelcoat... just the outer layer of it.
can you feel the flakes when you run your hands over it? If you can, they'll eventually change color a bit due to exposure to the air. if it is really obvious, you might want to think about spot clearing it, but i don't have any personal experience with doing that with gelcoat. (I have clearcoated clear gel / flake with great results). if it were base coat clear coat paint, I would rough it up and shoot clear over it, color sand and then buff it out. I don't see why you couldn't do the same with gel, but don't know whether it would be easier to do with clearcoat or gel, nor even if clear paint would look right.
I would definitely NOT try to cover it with rattle can clear... either use good quality automotive two part polyurethane clear or have someone else do it. We're talking something you can do with a cheap airbrush and a pint of good quality automotive clear from napa. if you can read directions you can do it.
the bigest key to adhesion besides roughing the surface a little with 320 is to dewax it until you're sure you're done and then doi it some more. Some people use styrene monomer to dewax gelcoat before spraying, buy laquer thinner followed by xylene or toluene and acetone seems to work well for me (not an expert, backyard hack...).
I might post it down in the forum on restoring rebuilding, etc... some of the guys that spend more time there might have a good answer...
