Best polisher for a boat?

[Mike Phillips]

Best polisher for a boat?



Hi Jeff,

It's hard to tell the exact condition of the boat from the pictures but it looks like there's some level of oxidation taking place.













The best bang for the buck entry level polisher is the Griot’s Garage 6” random orbital polisher. This is an 8mm free spinning, (not gear-driven), random orbital polisher. Compared to similar 8mm free spinning tools, it does the best job of maintaining pad rotation when buffing anything other than flat panels and when buffing out a boat there are a lot of non-flat panel areas to buff.

It will work to remove light oxidation on boats that are slightly neglected. It will work great for machine applying a wax or sealant for boats in new condition.

If a boat is neglected and has medium to heavy oxidation, then you’ll either need a rotary buffer or a FLEX 3401 gear-driven orbital polisher. This is where buffing out a boat can start to get a tick complicated. A rotary buffer has ALL the power you need to remove years of oxidation. The problem (from my point of view), is that rotary buffers will leave holograms in the gel-coat and this makes the gel-coat more prone to oxidize even more in the future because the hologram scratches make the surface MORE OPENED UP.

I have an article about this here,

Holograms in gel-coat boats by Mike Phillips



The FLEX 3401 aka the BEAST is a gear-driven 8mm orbital polisher and it has a LOT of power like the rotary buffer but won't leave the hologram scratches in the gel-coat like the rotary buffer will. The thing about the FLEX 3401 is it cost quite a bit more than the entry level Griot's polisher.


Here's the Griot's

Get the Griot's Garage 6" DA Orbital Polisher. This one,

Griot's Garage 6" ROP - Standard cord

Griots Garage 6 Inch Heavy Duty Random Orbital Polisher - HD Cord - 25' Heavy Duty Cord already pre-wired





Here's the FLEX 3401

Flex XC 3401 VRG Dual Action Orbital Polisher







I'll let you decide which direction you want to go for a polisher. No matter which polisher you get, buffing out boats is a lot of hard work. Feel free to call me to discuss.

1-800-869-3011 x206



As for products, the most practical way to buff out a neglected boat and to also maintain a boat is to use a great one-step cleaner/wax for oxidized gel-coat. The Heavy Cut Cleaner/Wax in our Marine 31 line works great. It will remove oxidation, polish the gel-coat to a high gloss and leave the surface protected. After the initial use, continue to use this product to maintain the boat.





Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax 32 oz

[Mike Phillips]

Jeff,

I've sent you the link to this thread, when you get a chance, give me a call and I'll do my best to get you the right supplies to tackle your boat.

[jillyjelli]

I called the marina that supports th 3M Polish and they gave me a hands down approval of this polish. I like the fact that it took off years of oxidized aluminum and restored my engine back to its original luster. The marina was correct in every way about how to apply and to finish the polishing to a chrome like luster. This will always be in my cleaning and polishing cabinet.

[Mike Phillips]

I called the marina that supports th 3M Polish and they gave me a hands down approval of this polish. I like the fact that it took off years of oxidized aluminum and restored my engine back to its original luster. The marina was correct in every way about how to apply and to finish the polishing to a chrome like luster. This will always be in my cleaning and polishing cabinet.

Your post reads like Spam.


We will be watching for your next posts.

[Mike Phillips]

This is a text book example of stealth spam.

If you read it closely - it kind of makes sense but not really.

I called the marina that supports th 3M Polish and they gave me a hands down approval of this polish.

I like the fact that it took off years of oxidized aluminum and restored my engine back to its original luster.

The marina was correct in every way about how to apply and to finish the polishing to a chrome like luster. This will always be in my cleaning and polishing cabinet.

Most engines are not bare aluminum and certainly not the type of smooth surfaces you could run a polisher over with a 3M polish to remove oxidation and restore a chrome like luster.




RARELY - does a Spammer get by me. Rarely. In this case they were successful. I normally run the e-mail, nickname and I.P. address of any new pending account through Skynet and if the person IS a spammer there will be search results that show this.

Sometimes - the search results don't show it until down the road - as in a "new" spammer. Me thinks this was the case here.

I just ran their e-mail address through Skynet and here's the top two results.






So jillyr.jane now has their own special Avatar and their own special forum membership account setting.

[Markymapo]

Good to know. I almost replied to the topic

[Mike Phillips]

Good to know. I almost replied to the topic

If you're not looking for it - not "reading" for it - Spammers can post like they are sincerely interested in the topic, or sincerely adding to the discussion.

Careful reading will tend to reveal a certain level of gibberish that simply doesn't make total sense in the context of the topic - this is a giveaway they are spammers.

And of course, inserting a link to another website, often times an Amazon affiliate website or a link in their Signature Line is another giveaway.