Hull polish or wetsand questions?

[rothfm]

Been looking...there is just way to much info, and opinions.

Looking to see if someone has a laymans 1,2,3 for my situation thats proven and wont overwhelm me.

Have a 1986 Tiara Pursuit with twin v6's and hardtop. Ive spend 5-6 years doing many improvements and Maint.

My hull needs attention..dont want to make a giant project of it. It has some shine, but also not. Years ago someone used a hi speed buffer with heavy cutter and i believe that left alot of swirls and a "mottled" look, some shine some dull.

Ive tried mny products, 3m polishers, cutters etc etc...same results. I would accept wetsanding steps and multi step polishing if thats the way to go.

Again, so many methods and process out there....I need a simple breakdown of how to do this, with products. Something I can do with basic equipment, myself without reading a 1000 page manual and spending 5k.

My Harbor Frieght has some interseting pads. Papers and compounds.

Any thoughts that fits this?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Assuming it's gell and not paint

Start sanding with 600, go up to 800, then 1000. Then Aquabuff 1000, then Aquabuff 2000, followed by finesse it

 

[bakerjw]

Scott is correct. Go look at Joe's videos on YouTube under fishbumptv. He has some fantastic DIY videos. They are TOP QUALITY too!

 

[Scott Danforth]

post pics of the hull and the issues you are seeing.

Again, so many methods and process out there....I need a simple breakdown of how to do this, with products. Something I can do with basic equipment, myself without reading a 1000 page manual and spending 5k.

My Harbor Frieght has some interseting pads. Papers and compounds.

you can get teh polisher and pads at HF, I would not get any papers or compounds there. you can get the rest off of Bezos's mega site.

if starting with nothing, you will probably spend $300-400 on polisher/pads/paper/compounds/wax/etc

for hand sanding, i am using either 6" DA discs and a 3M rubber pad or sheets of wet/dry paper and the same 3M rubber pad. long strokes, and lots and lots and lots of water. if you dont have water running down your arm, you dont have enough water. you are also only gliding this across the surface. you do NOT want to use alot of force. you will get stripes where your fingers press if you do




I use a variable speed general junk (AKA harbor freight) polisher. you are only running it at 1400 RPM for the aquabuff, about 1600 RPM for the finesse it and about 1700 for wheel buffing. you must change pads every time

Harbor freight no longer caries the chicago electric programmable variable speed buffer. so without the readout, remember, it has to be slower than you think.




they have this one that has 8 settings. I know nothing about it.



use the wool pads for the aquabuff, the waffle pads for the finesse it and the foam polish pad for the application of the wax of your choice

clean and change the pads often. you should be running the cleaning spur over the wool pad about once every 10 minutes.

i then soak them in the laundry sink, wash them by hand to remove most of the grit, then toss them into the laundry for the next time I need them.

you will wear the pads out, so make sure to have a few on hand. I have even had a new pad break apart and go flinging across the garage.

 

[airshot]

If it were me.....wet sand and paint....if it were me.

 

[MikeSchinlaub]

Bar ligh of some sort will be a tremendous help too.



Something like this. Hold it so that you can see the reflection of the flashlight and it will help you see the scratches. A spot light just doesn't show enough for me.

It will take some time, and gel takes a bit of pressure to really buff the sanding scratches out. Less once you move to polish.