Boats Boats and more Boats

**matth9** · 03-15-2011, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by boykster

Rotary polisher with wool bonnet (white) and the 3M products. Gel coat is very different than clearcoat paint, and to eliminate oxidation you need a rotary. I have a 27' LOA SeaRay that I spent nearly a week restoring the finish on a few years ago.

Here's a before pic showing the level of oxidation, and an after pic showing off the new shine. The blue striping shows the impact the best, but the oxidation and shine were present in the white gelcoat as well.

Do you have anymore pics of your boat showing the finish?

**boykster** · 03-15-2011, 07:22 PM

It was 3-4 years ago and I know I took a bunch of pics, but I'll have to dig for them. I snagged those 2 off of another forum I post on

**matth9** · 03-15-2011, 07:42 PM

Do you remember what 3M products you used? My buddies boat looks like yours before and I want to give it a new look

**boykster** · 03-16-2011, 12:58 AM

I used 3M Marine Rubbing Compound 09004 first to remove the oxidation, then followed it up with the Finesse-It II Glaze 09048, and then put a coat of the 3M scotchgard marine wax 09062.

All product was applied using a rotary polisher and a white wool pad. I spent a ton of time reading on a boat detailing forum about compounding gel-coat, cleaning the pads, etc. I'll see if I can find the links tomorrow.

**GaDetailDoc** · 03-16-2011, 06:21 AM

Boar sure turned out great.

**fredcandetail** · 03-16-2011, 09:15 AM

Believe it or not wool-rotary-D151 has been my go to product for medium to light oxidation on most boats
Great one stepper!

**boykster** · 03-16-2011, 04:50 PM

I honestly can't find the forum that i used to read about boat detailing - I thought it was a sub-forum at the hull truth, but I can't find it.

**matth9** · 03-16-2011, 07:13 PM

no worries, thanks for looking. I'm starting my buddies boat in a month and I will post pics of results

**h_2_o** · 03-17-2011, 10:42 PM

OK sorry for the delay in pictures but here they are. this is the same spot but it looks like 3 different levels of oxidation. I guess the gelcoat is in worse condition that i thought it was in but hey i'm trying to fix it or at least help it out. So now comes my questions and sorry for still the beginners dumbness but hey here it is. I really would like to stick with a DA because i do not trust myself with the tools that most would suggest so knowing that going forward i'll probably get the griots 6" polisher.

What cutting pads and polishes would you guys suggest for this project?

I'm going to link to the images because they are large. if you want better quality or a side view of the boat or something let me know.

boat 1
boat 2
boat 3

thanks everyone for the help