Mike Phillips
11-15-2016, 08:24 AM
Thanks for the PM about your thread.
Jeff aka GSKR has already shared a lot of good recommendations and he buffs out some of the worst projects on planet earth.
I'm curious too as I cannot find any detailed guides on this,
Although I wrote this detailed guide for boats all the exact same principals would apply to anything made out of gel-coat.
In the book I placed boats into 4 categories from new to one tick away from the point of no return and then in each of these chapters I explained in detail how to restore the gel-coat using pretty much every tool sold on Autogeek.com AND how to do all the steps by hand.
I even included how to do a 4-step process by hand and I've NEVER seen this explained in print before in my life.
So there is a "detailed guide" on how to do this type of work it just has a picture of a boat on it instead of a camper.
If you click this link you can see screenshots of the index which is detailed in an of itself and also 6 pages long.
Paperback book - How To Detail Boats With Marine 31 by Mike Phillips (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/marine-31-boat-detailing-classes/97252-paperback-book-how-detail-boats-marine-31-mike-phillips.html)
For anyone interested in learning the art of restoring gel-coat that is as bad as it can get, be it on a camper or a boat, then attend my boat detailing class in February as you will learn everything you need to know to restore gel-coat to like new condition.
Marine 31 Boat Detailing Class - Saturday February 4th, 2017 (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/marine-31-boat-detailing-classes/104252-marine-31-boat-detailing-class-february-4th-2017-most-hands-class-available-u-s.html)
how to you identify if you need to sand or if a compound will suffice?
Experience is the best way to "know" but if you don't have it then pictures would help a lot. Whatever you tried to share in the way of pictures didn't work so try something else. I've written a lot of articles in my life on how to work with pictures in the forum world but now days I give up. I know how and I taught myself.
As for restoring the shine to oxidized gel-coat, heres the two ways do do it quick and dirty.
Sanding
Hand or machine sand the gel-coat and the use a rotary buffer to remove your sanding marks and then use your Meguiar's polisher to remove the holograms.
Unlike Jeff, I prefer to machine sand as much as possible because it's faster, easier on me and the sanding marks are a LOT more uniform in their depth and as such buff out faster. Again, that makes it easier and faster for me to remove them.
The best way to sand the gel-coat would be to use the Mirka Abralon sanding discs like I show in my boat detailing book. You can use these by hand or with any SIMPLE dual action polisher like the Meguiar's polisher you already own.
Stick with #3000 grit discs and take your time and you can sand off years of dead, oxidized gel-coat. Then buy or rent a rotary buffer, get a wool cutting pad and Marine 31 Captains One-Step Compound & Polish and remove your sanding marks.
Then use the SAME product with a RUPES coarse blue foam cutting pad on your Meguiar's polisher to remove the holograms.
Then seal the surface with a wax, sealant or Marine 31 Captain's UV50 Boat Coating.
Machine compounding - no sanding
If you don't want to sand, then buy or rent a rotary buffer, get a wool cutting pad and Marine 31 Captains One-Step Compound & Polish and then buff and buff and buff for hours pushing hard.
That's the HUGE difference between how you approach restoring SEVERE oxidation.
You can push lightly to sand or you can push hard for hours to machine compound, your choice.
This is how you lean into the buffer....
http://www.marine31online.com/gallery/data/522/2006_Proline_24_Supersport_Boat_Detailing_Class_03 1a.jpg
DeWALT 849X sans handle and grabbing the rubber overmold on the head of the unit and the pushing down hard...
http://www.marine31online.com/gallery/data/522/2006_Proline_24_Supersport_Boat_Detailing_Class_03 2a.jpg
It will take you a LOT longer to try to buff out this camper using only the Meguiar's dual action polisher. This is a FREE SPINNING orbital polisher and take my word for it, while it can be done it will be a lot faster to use a direct drive rotary buffer or spend the money and get the FLEX 3401 gear-driven orbital and tackle this way plus have a tool that will last you a lifetime and you can use on all your vehicles.
If you go the machine compounding route with a rotary the follow the same procedure outlined above, that is get and use the Marine 31 Captains One-Step Compound & Polish and use this with a RUPES coarse blue foam cutting pad on your Meguiar's polisher to remove the holograms.
Then seal the surface with a wax, sealant or Marine 31 Captain's UV50 Boat Coating.
I've shared both the above procedures multiple times with local boat owners and they always come back to me and say,
Thank you.
I wish they were the type of people that knew how to use a computer and type and take pictures and join a forum and create a thread but alas... they're just typical guys.
:dunno:
Jeff aka GSKR has already shared a lot of good recommendations and he buffs out some of the worst projects on planet earth.
I'm curious too as I cannot find any detailed guides on this,
Although I wrote this detailed guide for boats all the exact same principals would apply to anything made out of gel-coat.
In the book I placed boats into 4 categories from new to one tick away from the point of no return and then in each of these chapters I explained in detail how to restore the gel-coat using pretty much every tool sold on Autogeek.com AND how to do all the steps by hand.
I even included how to do a 4-step process by hand and I've NEVER seen this explained in print before in my life.
So there is a "detailed guide" on how to do this type of work it just has a picture of a boat on it instead of a camper.
If you click this link you can see screenshots of the index which is detailed in an of itself and also 6 pages long.
Paperback book - How To Detail Boats With Marine 31 by Mike Phillips (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/marine-31-boat-detailing-classes/97252-paperback-book-how-detail-boats-marine-31-mike-phillips.html)
For anyone interested in learning the art of restoring gel-coat that is as bad as it can get, be it on a camper or a boat, then attend my boat detailing class in February as you will learn everything you need to know to restore gel-coat to like new condition.
Marine 31 Boat Detailing Class - Saturday February 4th, 2017 (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/marine-31-boat-detailing-classes/104252-marine-31-boat-detailing-class-february-4th-2017-most-hands-class-available-u-s.html)
how to you identify if you need to sand or if a compound will suffice?
Experience is the best way to "know" but if you don't have it then pictures would help a lot. Whatever you tried to share in the way of pictures didn't work so try something else. I've written a lot of articles in my life on how to work with pictures in the forum world but now days I give up. I know how and I taught myself.
As for restoring the shine to oxidized gel-coat, heres the two ways do do it quick and dirty.
Sanding
Hand or machine sand the gel-coat and the use a rotary buffer to remove your sanding marks and then use your Meguiar's polisher to remove the holograms.
Unlike Jeff, I prefer to machine sand as much as possible because it's faster, easier on me and the sanding marks are a LOT more uniform in their depth and as such buff out faster. Again, that makes it easier and faster for me to remove them.
The best way to sand the gel-coat would be to use the Mirka Abralon sanding discs like I show in my boat detailing book. You can use these by hand or with any SIMPLE dual action polisher like the Meguiar's polisher you already own.
Stick with #3000 grit discs and take your time and you can sand off years of dead, oxidized gel-coat. Then buy or rent a rotary buffer, get a wool cutting pad and Marine 31 Captains One-Step Compound & Polish and remove your sanding marks.
Then use the SAME product with a RUPES coarse blue foam cutting pad on your Meguiar's polisher to remove the holograms.
Then seal the surface with a wax, sealant or Marine 31 Captain's UV50 Boat Coating.
Machine compounding - no sanding
If you don't want to sand, then buy or rent a rotary buffer, get a wool cutting pad and Marine 31 Captains One-Step Compound & Polish and then buff and buff and buff for hours pushing hard.
That's the HUGE difference between how you approach restoring SEVERE oxidation.
You can push lightly to sand or you can push hard for hours to machine compound, your choice.
This is how you lean into the buffer....
http://www.marine31online.com/gallery/data/522/2006_Proline_24_Supersport_Boat_Detailing_Class_03 1a.jpg
DeWALT 849X sans handle and grabbing the rubber overmold on the head of the unit and the pushing down hard...
http://www.marine31online.com/gallery/data/522/2006_Proline_24_Supersport_Boat_Detailing_Class_03 2a.jpg
It will take you a LOT longer to try to buff out this camper using only the Meguiar's dual action polisher. This is a FREE SPINNING orbital polisher and take my word for it, while it can be done it will be a lot faster to use a direct drive rotary buffer or spend the money and get the FLEX 3401 gear-driven orbital and tackle this way plus have a tool that will last you a lifetime and you can use on all your vehicles.
If you go the machine compounding route with a rotary the follow the same procedure outlined above, that is get and use the Marine 31 Captains One-Step Compound & Polish and use this with a RUPES coarse blue foam cutting pad on your Meguiar's polisher to remove the holograms.
Then seal the surface with a wax, sealant or Marine 31 Captain's UV50 Boat Coating.
I've shared both the above procedures multiple times with local boat owners and they always come back to me and say,
Thank you.
I wish they were the type of people that knew how to use a computer and type and take pictures and join a forum and create a thread but alas... they're just typical guys.
:dunno: