TOPIC: Best way to shine paint

im a poor student who would love to poor thousands of dollars in his boat, but unfortunately i cant. so, i would love to hear your advice on the cheapest way to revive old gel coat paint.

My paint isnt bad, but i either have to wax it every time or put rubbing compound on it every other month to get it to shine.

Also, is rubbing compound bad for your paint?

Are you asking about gel coat or paint?

Frank

i think its gel coat, my bad....i really dont know the difference.

Assuming your gel coat it thick enough id recommend paint polishing in this order...

1. 1500 wet sanding...just enough to remove any heavy oxidation...go slow and be careful not to burn through the gel coat

2. Compounding with medium cut rubbing compound and a dual action polisher with a compound pad...just enough to remove sanding scratches

3. Light cut Polish with dual action polisher with a light cut pad...this step is what gives you the deep shine and gloss

4. Hand applied, quality liquid wax...wax is merely a protective coating and has no "cut"

Assuming you keep the boat clean and covered, all you should have to do to maintain the finish is wax approximately every 6 months. Ive done a couple boats with this process and they came out looking VERY sharp and with a little preventative maintenance, will stay looking good for many years to come.

JerrfyLube your the best man, but i got a couple junior questions for you like always:)

-im assuming the sanding will be done by hand and the sandpaper will be just the regular sheets you buy at home depot? I dont think i need to much sanding, ill post a picture tomorrow...if im right, do i need to sand it at all before i put the rubbing compound on?

-and is there anyway you can send me a link or picture to the exact stuff i need (rubbing compound, dual action polisher, light cut polish, light cut pad).

-what exactly is cut?

man, with all the help you have given me, i feel like i should be paying you. feel free to send me a bill:)

Autozone wet sandpaper is by far better then home depot.
I dont know what jl's thoughts on this subject are beyond what he stated but I have a few...
You Can probably hand sand everything like he said very lightly then use turtle was buffing compound in the red container and hand buff the deck but remove residue when it is still wet doing a sq ft at a time but this can take alot of your precious finish off so be careful then do it all over using the turtle wax polishing compound in the green container but this time you can be rougher then wax away and hopefully itll look new again.
The red compound is more gritty then the green but it would be nice to have a buffer on the last step with the green polishing compound. In the past I ise a rendom orbital sander and used contact cement to stick a new pad on then polished away.
The last two pics are before (the green polishing compound) and after however this is paint but you get the idea. Keep in mind gelcoat dosent shine like paint does and I dont know if this is the best way to shine gel coat and I think you want to use a marine wax on gel coat, Mike
PS...Lastly read this www.fiberglassics.com/restoration/the-truth-about-boat-detailing

If you like the results you get with Turtle Wax compounds, you should try a couple of grades from the Meguiar's professional line. I use a lot of their Fine Cut cleaner, and Heavy Cut (followed by Fine), for finishes that need more aggressive cutting. As for sandpaper, I buy 3M in single sheets at my local DuPont supplier.

Meguiar's compounds cost more, but they more than make up fr it in performance.

man, with all the help you have given me, i feel like i should be paying you. feel free to send me a bill:)

You can always click the little green "thumbs up" button in the upper right hand corner, it gives folks who help you out (JerrfyLube and Bigfoot) an increase in their Karma rating. Just a thought.........

I'll agree with the Collinite for a wax recomendation, it's great on Gelcoat.
Goes on easy buffs up nice.
Randy

jchancegreen wrote:

JerrfyLube your the best man, but i got a couple junior questions for you like always:)

-im assuming the sanding will be done by hand and the sandpaper will be just the regular sheets you buy at home depot? I dont think i need to much sanding, ill post a picture tomorrow...if im right, do i need to sand it at all before i put the rubbing compound on?

-and is there anyway you can send me a link or picture to the exact stuff i need (rubbing compound, dual action polisher, light cut polish, light cut pad).

-what exactly is cut?

man, with all the help you have given me, i feel like i should be paying you. feel free to send me a bill:)

No problem and glad to help!

Home depot and other do it yourself stores generally dont carry fine enough grit sand paper to do what your trying to obtain. Ironically enough, walmart sells professional grade 3M papers that work really well for about 4 bucks a pack. Godelescher had mentioned using 600 or 800 grit but unless your boat is VERY heavily oxidized, id recommend something a bit finer...600 is going to remove gelcoat in a hurry and is going to significantly increase the chances that you will burn through the finish. If time is of the essence, by all means, use something more aggressive but when it comes to finishes, i believe slow and steady wins the race. I personally wouldnt use anything finer than 1000...but thats just a personal preference and you will find what works best for your particular application.

On to polishes and wax...

I dont like Turtle wax products because they use inferior ingredients and more often than not, put out a subpar finish...their waxes dont last long at all. Someone else had mentioned Meguiar's and they do make some really good products as does 3M. I prefer 3M personally because its what i know and what i use. Meguiar's has a synthetic wax called NXT that works REALLY well on boats and lasts a long time...works much better and lasts WAY longer than any carnuba counterparts. Im not completely sold on "marine" waxes...they are very expensive and from ive seen, dont last all that much longer than a good quality, synthetic automotive wax...but there again, personal preference comes into play and your mileage and use may vary. Whatever you use, plan on applying it every 6 months at a minimum to maintain your finish unless its kept indoors or not used frequently.

As for a polisher...this is one area im a firm believer in not skimping on. I use the "professional detailers industry standard" Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action polisher...absolutely fantastic piece of equipment and i use the heck out of mine. Well worth the money! Dont bother with those cheap buffers you see at Sears or Autozone...they dont have the power to do any serious paint correction.

When i referred to "cut" im talking about how much material the pad or polishing medium removes. A fast or heavy cut removes more material than a slow or light cut does. I generally try to use the lightest cut i can get away with as it lessens the chance of burning through the paint. All my pads that i use are Hex-Logic foam pads. They are inexpensive, work REALLY well and last a long time.

Granted, most of my boats are beaters so i dont really take a huge amount of time to detail them but this advice is coming from several years of both professional and hobbyist automotive detailing...i always keep my cars\trucks in tip top physical condition and it more or less relates to boats as well with some minor differences here and there. Gelcoat is a totally different animal than paint but lets be realistic...were talking about 30+ year old finishes and nothing that we do, except in some very rare, well kept examples, is going to make them as good or better than when they rolled off the showroom floor, so even the cheapest of methods is better than nothing.

Were getting ready to paint a friends boat here in a week or so...and it will be wet sanded, compounded, polished and waxed in the process...ill do a good, illustrated writeup when doing it, hopefully passing on some paint detailing knowledge.