bluemoons
07-24-2017, 02:18 PM
So as a precursor, I have a good bit of experience doing paintwork on cars. I used to do paint correction for side work. I sold everything I had besides a PC7424 and some pads. I was always a believer in Sonus products for clearcoats. I never did much paintwork on gelcoat.
Now, I've got a boat that's about a year and a half old, and I've had to do some basic marine tex + wet sand to fill some chips in the gelcoat in the cockpit. A few months ago, I went and bought a cheapo rotary from Harbor Freight. I've also got orange, white, red, blue, and wool Lake Country pads. All quality stuff. Anyway, I've tried some basic polishing with the gelcoat and I'm getting kind of frustrated. I have no problem pulling out thin scratches and clearing up wet sand marks, but the polishing (with both the DA and the rotary) leaves this weird haze on the finish - almost like an orange peel, but slick. I've tried 3m compounding and finishing material, Finesse It II, Sonus SFX-1, and Sonus SFX-2 - all with the same result. I run about 1500-2000 on the rotary, and higher speeds on the DA. It's really not noticeable unless you put an LED light up to the gelcoat and move between an un-polished spot and a spot where I polished, but it aggravates me to put in all that work and not leave with a mirror finish.
The haze is difficult to describe, but the best way to illustrate via text is in areas where I've polished, the haze is such that the reflection in the finish isn't crystal clear. It's like marred without swirls if that makes any sense. Whereas the areas that haven't been compounded or polished have swirls and some micro-marring, but the finish/reflection in the gelcoat is clearer. Anyway, I'm getting really annoyed with less than perfect results. Does anyone have any experience with something similar that could help me figure out what I'm doing wrong/what's going on?
Thanks in advance.
Now, I've got a boat that's about a year and a half old, and I've had to do some basic marine tex + wet sand to fill some chips in the gelcoat in the cockpit. A few months ago, I went and bought a cheapo rotary from Harbor Freight. I've also got orange, white, red, blue, and wool Lake Country pads. All quality stuff. Anyway, I've tried some basic polishing with the gelcoat and I'm getting kind of frustrated. I have no problem pulling out thin scratches and clearing up wet sand marks, but the polishing (with both the DA and the rotary) leaves this weird haze on the finish - almost like an orange peel, but slick. I've tried 3m compounding and finishing material, Finesse It II, Sonus SFX-1, and Sonus SFX-2 - all with the same result. I run about 1500-2000 on the rotary, and higher speeds on the DA. It's really not noticeable unless you put an LED light up to the gelcoat and move between an un-polished spot and a spot where I polished, but it aggravates me to put in all that work and not leave with a mirror finish.
The haze is difficult to describe, but the best way to illustrate via text is in areas where I've polished, the haze is such that the reflection in the finish isn't crystal clear. It's like marred without swirls if that makes any sense. Whereas the areas that haven't been compounded or polished have swirls and some micro-marring, but the finish/reflection in the gelcoat is clearer. Anyway, I'm getting really annoyed with less than perfect results. Does anyone have any experience with something similar that could help me figure out what I'm doing wrong/what's going on?
Thanks in advance.