Kids tried to help.

[Horizon]

Hi Gang.
The kids decided to suprise Dad this week and clean the boat. Sadly the most effecient way they found to scrub the boat was with a kitchen scourer..
Ouch. I am now left with alot of scratches on the gel coat and the decals as well. It seems that the scratching on the gel coat isn't very deep .
+Does polishing merely fill these fine scratches and they re-appear down the track or should I use a cutting compound?
+Is there a product that may give the decals a bit of life?
I am hoping that I don't have to replace them . Mainly it is a decal that is about 4 inches wide (Black) and goes around the whole boat and gets to about 8 or 10 inches wide at the stern. Unfortunatelty they tried especially hard to clean the decals.
Oh.... what can you say when they are just trying to help.
Any help / advice would be appreciated
Tony

 

[Windykid]

Re: Kids tried to help.

Welcome to I Boats!

Dont know what to tell you about the decal, but find a test spot and try some polish or wax and see how it goes. Other wise you might be doing a lot of compounding.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Kids tried to help.

iboats store has fiberglass restorer. search care and cleaning

 

[Islandlure]

Re: Kids tried to help.

What are the decals? Factory decals or aftermarket? Boat logos or graphics?

 

[Horizon]

Re: Kids tried to help.

Hi Again,
Thanks for reading my problem.
I will go to the Iboat store as soon as I finish this response. Thank you.

The Decals are the factory four winns stripes that start at the bow and follow the line of the boat to the stern. They start at 4 inches wide and about two feet from the stern taper out to about ten inches.
Again thank you every body for your responses
Tony

 

[Islandlure]

Re: Kids tried to help.

Horizon, most likely if the decals are cut through there is really nothing you can do and it will only get worse because now the adhesive will be exposed to the weather. If it is only scuffed then you can try buffing the vinyl but you only want to try this by hand. Anything else can lift the vinyl if not done delicately. I make custom boat graphics so let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

 

[croSSed]

Re: Kids tried to help.

As to the decals, as has already been hinted at here, they are probably toast. The gelcoat on the other hand can be messaged back, maybe not to "new" but it will look a whole lot better than it does now. It will take some time. If I were you I would locate new decals for my boat. Then I would remove the old decals and use an adhesive cleaner to get the old decal adhesive off. Next, hit the boat in a stepwise process starting with the most aggressive cutting compound that you are going to use first, then go less aggressive each time you hit the boat. Finish off with 3M Finesse It II and a good carnuba pure wax. Don't wax the boat until you put the new decals on first, though. Use a wool buffing pad on the end of a variable speed grinder/polisher or heavy duty drill. How aggressive do you start with as far as cutting compound is concerned? No way to really tell until you try something. In your case I don't think I'd be too afraid to use pretty aggressive stuff to start with. As you mentioned, you might buff it with one compound, wip off the excess, and it looks pretty good. But, as the protroleum product in the compound continues to evaporate, the scratches "reappear." The scratches need to be gone if you want it to look good again. Be clear that you might not be able to get all the scratches out.

One of my cousins when she was about 6 years old, washed her dad's brand new Cadillac.... with SOS pads.... ouch.

TG

 

[Coors]

Re: Kids tried to help.

Fourwinns has the decals?