Oxidation, cutting and pollishing

[Im Lon 2]

I have a little oxidation on my boat and I'm wanting to try remove with a compound and cutting pad. I might of course end up having to sand using 1500 grit, but I'm not sure it is that bad.

The problem I'm having is there are so many different products from compound, polish, cutting pad and polishing pad, you can spend days (I have) on Youtube researching..

I had planned on purchasing a 6" orbital sander/polisher, but what is a good compound and cutting pad combo you guys are using that seems to work well?

Compounds
Meguiars M105 Ultra Cut
HD Uno,
Marine 31 Gel Coat heavy-Cut Oxidation remover


Pads
Wool Pad (will this even work well with a Orbital polisher?)
HD Heavy cutting (yellow) pad
HD Cutting (orange) Pad.


My first thought was to do a 2x2 area using the Meguiars M105 compound with the HD cutting pad (Yellow), then work my way down to a HD Polishing (Blue) Pad with Meguiars M205. Following that up with a Wax.

Thanks

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Oxidation, cutting and pollishing

I have had some excellent success using the 3M products Boat Polishes and in the beginning (many years ago......many many ) I did it by hand until I had a 24' cuddy cabin. I then bought a 7" polisher from Northern Tool and that was a true blessing.

Using the correct product and tools makes half the battle If you try to use a variable polisher such that is not orbital be careful they are powerful.....the random one you have will probably do the job. Good luck.

 

[bilge rat jim]

Re: Oxidation, cutting and pollishing

The detailer at our marina is a crotchety old broad who is very fussy about the materials she uses, but the results she gets are truly amazing. She uses a big, heavy old Clarke buffer at a low rpm, outfitted with 3M pads- natural sheepskin for the first cut, and a black foam "perfect-it" pad for polishing. She uses 3M compounds and polishes, the only one I can remember is "finesse-it" polish for finishing. The only product she uses that is not 3M is wax- she uses Meguiars Flagship. BTW, the "crotchety old broad" is also known as "the wife".

 

[airdvr1227]

Re: Oxidation, cutting and pollishing

I had good success with this 3M product. It's a bit messy and you'll need to apply a good coat of wax when you're finished but the results using a buffer with a foam pad were really good.

 

[gm280]

Re: Oxidation, cutting and pollishing

I can vouch for the 3M products myself. They work great using a variable or very low speed polisher. I used a Makita variable setting polisher with the 3M polishing compounds with truly amazing results...

 

[Im Lon 2]

Re: Oxidation, cutting and pollishing

I was at Harbor Freight today and picked up a 7" variable speed Chicago polisher.. I also got the wool Pad, cutting pad, and finishing pad. I will try out a 2x2 section and see what pad works best then pickup a few more. I will look into the 3M stuff.

Thanks,

 

[jimmy wise]

Re: Oxidation, cutting and pollishing

if the pads work ok you can clean them with a spur or a brush if they are foam. wool works better with use. mist water on it and with it turning real slow catch all the loose fibre by running your fingers softly over the pad. if not stuff will fly everywhere when you polish

 

[Im Lon 2]

Re: Oxidation, cutting and pollishing

I took back the 7" rotary Polisher, and picked up the 6" DA Polisher, with a orange cutting pad. I could not find the 3M product with out ordering online, but did picked up some Meguiars Ultimate Compound to try and it didn't take long to start seeing results. I tried a little spot to see how it would work and made a huge difference.. Cannot wait till I get a little more time, to actually sit down and do the whole boat! I think I'm going to have to do some by hand where I have a little bit of a lip that is hard to get to with the polisher.

 

[Mischief Managed]

Re: Oxidation, cutting and pollishing

You guys know oxygen does not do anything to gel coat right? It's really just sun damage. Gel coat stays nice and shiny in the shade, even in the presence of oxygen.

 

[Silverton34c]

Re: Oxidation, cutting and pollishing

After I compound, I "wash" the residual away with water and rag...this will float the oxidation away...dry the area next and then wax...I like the 3M products also