Buffing 180 grit scratches out of gel coat

[B.M.W II]

I am sanding what appears to be heavy oxidation buildup plus cheap paint off of my 1983 Winner bass boat. I have tried other methods, ex. boat cleaning agents and household cleaning agents, and nothing seems to work. I got some 180 grit and a DA sander and started sanding, this removes it very quickly. My question is can I use a compound and buffer to get 180 scaratches out or do I need to go to a finer sandpaper? The gel coat that I am getting down to appears to be in great shape but the boat has had a hole in the bottom fixed at one point, ex. run up on stump. Thanks for all the feedback.<br />Joe

 

[JB]

Re: Buffing 180 grit scratches out of gel coat

Use finer grit, BMW II.<br /><br />I would go to 220, then to 400 wet before I even thought of buffing, but probably not buff before doing 1000-1200 wet.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Buffing 180 grit scratches out of gel coat

You need to use some finer grit sandpaper to get a good finish, next use 220, then 320, 400 and 600 until you can buff and get the sanding scratches out. You can jump grits (180 to 320 or 320 to 600) sometimes, it just depends on the gel coat used to make that boat, some are softer than than others and will be easier to sand and buff. It doesn't always help to go all the way to the very fine grit papers like 1000 or 1500, once you get passed 600 or 800 grit you need to use the right buffing compounds, pads and techniques to make a noticeable difference.