jrhoops
07-06-2017, 05:46 PM
New guy to detailing have a situation with a 2015 Ranger Z520C bass boat and some vehicles I will be working on. My focus is the boat, the cars/trucks get traded too often to worry about but I will still work on them if I have the tools/skills/desire.
I tow with the cover on so I have a couple spots about the size of your hand above the rub rail that are starting to appear slightly hazy from certain angles in specific lighting situations. I wipe the boat down with an absorbing towel when it comes out of the water so I'm sure an LED inspection would show a few flaws, this practice will be abandoned in favor of a rinseless wash or quick detailer. However, on to the question:
I know a rotary in the right hands would be optimal but the hands typing this question are not the hands to be wielding a rotary. I have read that gelcoat can be tough and forgiving but I think that also means using a DA polisher rather than a rotary will take longer and/or not be capable of producing the results. I thought the GG6 being more powerful and perhaps combining it with a 3" backing plate might help bridge the gap between performance and "safety". This particular boat has a lot of "body" lines, above the rub rail and below so I'm concerned about using a 5" or 6" pad and not being able to work the actual area I need to, another reason I was looking at the 3" plate.
1. Does that generate more power with the smaller pad or less? Reason seems to dictate the smaller pad would be more powerful but use a greater number of pads and take more time to get through a given section.
2. Would I need to be worried about all these "body" lines or just go with a 5" pad and let her rip?
3. I have not settled on a polish or a compound, my initial plan was to get the GG6 with 5" and 3" backing plates and some orange, black, red pads. I planned to try the pads with the m61 cleaner wax on one of the areas and go from there. After more reading I'm concerned maybe I need to pick up a tougher compound and pads just in case its not enough. what would be the next step up in pad and compound from m61, m50?
4. Am I wrong in thinking that a given pad/compound in 3" is more aggressive than 6" if all other factors are the same (speed, pace, pressure, etc.)?
5. is it normal to just touch up these few spots and move on to the next step or is it standard practice to polish the entire boat with an "aggressive" process before applying m63 or equivalent final step?
sorry for all the dumb questions, its difficult to convey the concerns knowing how it seems in the inexperienced mind is not how it is in real life. I just don't want to waste money or, more importantly, time working through pointless processes. Every boat/rv video starts out with a rotary tool plus wool pad and I just dont think I'm at that point with this gel coat...but I could be wrong.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you for your time
I tow with the cover on so I have a couple spots about the size of your hand above the rub rail that are starting to appear slightly hazy from certain angles in specific lighting situations. I wipe the boat down with an absorbing towel when it comes out of the water so I'm sure an LED inspection would show a few flaws, this practice will be abandoned in favor of a rinseless wash or quick detailer. However, on to the question:
I know a rotary in the right hands would be optimal but the hands typing this question are not the hands to be wielding a rotary. I have read that gelcoat can be tough and forgiving but I think that also means using a DA polisher rather than a rotary will take longer and/or not be capable of producing the results. I thought the GG6 being more powerful and perhaps combining it with a 3" backing plate might help bridge the gap between performance and "safety". This particular boat has a lot of "body" lines, above the rub rail and below so I'm concerned about using a 5" or 6" pad and not being able to work the actual area I need to, another reason I was looking at the 3" plate.
1. Does that generate more power with the smaller pad or less? Reason seems to dictate the smaller pad would be more powerful but use a greater number of pads and take more time to get through a given section.
2. Would I need to be worried about all these "body" lines or just go with a 5" pad and let her rip?
3. I have not settled on a polish or a compound, my initial plan was to get the GG6 with 5" and 3" backing plates and some orange, black, red pads. I planned to try the pads with the m61 cleaner wax on one of the areas and go from there. After more reading I'm concerned maybe I need to pick up a tougher compound and pads just in case its not enough. what would be the next step up in pad and compound from m61, m50?
4. Am I wrong in thinking that a given pad/compound in 3" is more aggressive than 6" if all other factors are the same (speed, pace, pressure, etc.)?
5. is it normal to just touch up these few spots and move on to the next step or is it standard practice to polish the entire boat with an "aggressive" process before applying m63 or equivalent final step?
sorry for all the dumb questions, its difficult to convey the concerns knowing how it seems in the inexperienced mind is not how it is in real life. I just don't want to waste money or, more importantly, time working through pointless processes. Every boat/rv video starts out with a rotary tool plus wool pad and I just dont think I'm at that point with this gel coat...but I could be wrong.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you for your time