Having just attended the class in Windsor; and practicing some of the skills on 2 of my cars leads me to a few questions on tackling my 25 foot Cobalt. The boat has mild oxidation (from what i can tell, 5 years old and is indoors in the Northeast for 7 months out of the year, fresh water). In the early off season I would like to work on the boat, however I need to go cordless (no generators allowed at the site not sure why) Can you recommend which of the 2 cordless Flex units to purchase (I will need extra batteries) and which pads to purchase. I just ordered your book on how to detail boats. Hopefully in the future I can get to florida for the class,
Having just attended the class in Windsor; and practicing some of the skills on 2 of my cars leads me to a few questions on tackling my 25 foot Cobalt.
Hi Mark,
Good to see you on the forum and ready to tackle your boat, which is a very cool boat by the way.
Originally Posted by Markymapo
The boat has mild oxidation
Here's the deal... even with mild oxidation, gel-coats tend to be hard and thus hard or difficult to work on. You tend to have to work for hours to remove oxidation by machine. Plus oxidation is not just limited to the top surface. Assuming the boat has a gel-coat finish, (thus the oxidation), the oxidation can go INTO the gel-coat. In order to remove it all you have to ensure you buff hard enough and long enough to remove all the oxidized polyester resin and reveal a fresh base of pigmented polyester resin.
Originally Posted by Markymapo
In the early off season I would like to work on the boat, however I need to go cordless (no generators allowed at the site not sure why)
This type of work is going to be best accomplished using corded tools. First a rotary buffer, perhaps a gear-driven orbital if the oxidation is not to bad. IF you start with rotary though, you'll want to finish out with orbital to not leave any hologram scratches in the gel-coat as this leads to accelerated oxidation moving forward.
A quote from my friend Dr. Ghodoussi (paraphrased)
"A smooth surface resists corrosion better than a textured surface"Dr. David Ghodoussi of Optimum Polymer Technologies
I've used the FLEX rotary and cut hard, I'll add the link to my write-up in a follow-up post.
Could the FLEX cordless rotary do the job? Yes, but you would have to work small areas at a time with a 6.5" wool cutting pads, a great compound and then after you cut the finish you'll still have to come back with an orbital to remove the hologram scratches.
Originally Posted by Markymapo
Can you recommend which of the 2 cordless Flex units to purchase (I will need extra batteries) and which pads to purchase.
Is it possible to remove the boat from the water and move it to a place where you can use corded tools?
Originally Posted by Markymapo
I just ordered your book on how to detail boats. Hopefully in the future I can get to florida for the class,
Here's the link to my last class and the MOST documented boat detailing class on Planet Earth.
In this thread you will see that the boats I bring in have turned white with deep oxidation, the worst kind), and then how we fixed them and we used corded tools throughout the entire process.
To be honest, I personally think you would be better off to take the boat detailing class first, then use your experience from the class to guide your decisions as to how to approach your boat.
Here's the link for you and everyone that will read this thread into the future on the ONLY boat class to be taught in 2019. We only teach this class once a year and it's in FEBRUARY.
Here's my article on battery life with the FLEX Cordless Rotary Buffer. Note I cut HARD with this polisher to test the batteries to their limit but also note the pad size on the tool. You cannot run normal size pads, which are in the context of today's standard, 8" and 7" pads. The pad on the tool is a 6.5" given to me as a prototype by Lake Country.
And here's my article on holograms and gel-coat boats. I'm pretty sure I'm the ONLY guy with an article like this that goes DEEP into the problem and the root causes.
Holograms in gel-coat
The below picture is a full size section cropped out of the above resized picture. The lines you see running back and forth across where the flash from my camera is lighting up the side of the hull are holograms from a rotary buffer.
Light from the flood lights...
In the below shot I have my camera flash turned off but you can still easily see the holograms in the black gel-coat finish.
Cropped out section from the above picture
The below picture is a full size section cropped out of the above resized picture. The lines you see running back and forth across where the flash from my camera is lighting up the side of the hull are holograms from a rotary buffer.
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Originally Posted by Markymapo
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