refinishing boat

[denniston]

I have a '78 18' glasstron. The there is like no gloss to it...i've tried wax, and polish, and compound, but no luck. The metal flake is real rough. All I really want to do is make it shine. I would rather do this once and have it done. or say once every 15 years. I don't know too much about gelcoat or what not.

 

[KeltonKrew]

Re: refinishing boat

wet sand, wet sand, wet sand.<br /><br />start off with say 600, then 1200.....use some 3m super duty rubbing compound, then finesse II. do the polishings with a buffer....<br /><br />after this, put a good coat or 2 of marine wax on. you'll be surprised at the glos..<br /><br />just ask JasonJ who just did this to his project skanky beast!

 

[denniston]

Re: refinishing boat

the only thing is there is like no gel on the metal it's like bare metal flake. still sand it?

 

[KeltonKrew]

Re: refinishing boat

out of my league here. don't know nothing about this.

 

[johnnybigrigger]

Re: refinishing boat

If you can feel the flake there is little that can be done to improve the appearence. If most of the clear gelcoat is missing the results of buffing will leave a blotched look, and edges of the flake protruding will be silver.

 

[quantumleap]

Re: refinishing boat

You could wetsand and then shoot a couple coats of clearcoat on it, but it won't be as durable as gel.

 

[denniston]

Re: refinishing boat

Actually under closer inspection, I noticed that I actually have glitter rather than metal flake, (is that possible?) MY questions are:<br />1) will gelcoat fill the voids of the glitter?<br />2) should I sand the glitter first?<br />3) I think the white / underpart of the boat still has some gel on it, but I think the top does not, should I just sand that, or regel that too? I think that it has like 1 million tiny spider cracks, but i'm not sure if it's that or mildew.<br />I guess that's all I can think of for now.<br /><br />You can check out some pics of the boat at:<br /> http://www.wesleyanyouth.com/boat/

 

[denniston]

Re: refinishing boat

The pics come up now.<br /><br />Sorry about that

 

[mike1234tampa]

Re: refinishing boat

Denniston, I am no paint man, but it looks like a good wet sand canidate to me, If it were me, I would pick out a little area and do a test, I dought it would make it any worse.

 

[wingwipers256]

Re: refinishing boat

Read the post on Al grip it will go over flake<br /> or metallic, if there is any thing left, take<br /> some terps on a cloth and wet it out, if you<br /> get a shine you can go over it. even clear<br /> coat will work but algrip will last forever, <br /> Ihave it on my bass boat I did in 83<br /><br /> Play Safe<br /> Phil

 

[12Footer]

Re: refinishing boat

Deniston,I have the same finish as you do. The actul hull is only a bit chaulky, so it can be buffed-out. But the metal flake cap is bare flakes of metal,that you can actually strike a match on.<br /> My project <br />I plan on using the Awlgrip system on the cap, buff/wax/buff the hull, and use Duracap on the interior.

 

[denniston]

Re: refinishing boat

So 12Footer, You're planning on painting over your glitter? I see that Awl Grip comes in a High Gloss Clear (AWLGRIP® High Gloss Clear G3005 can be applied over dark AWLGRIP® colors which have been sanded with 320-400 grit paper. Do not apply G3005 over white or pastel colors. Do not apply G3005 directly to bare wood.)<br />Do you think I could put that over my glitter??? Although this product is quite expensive, I've seen some great results.<br /><br />I wet sanded for a while on my hull this past weekend. I think a couple passes with a buffer and it might look pretty good.