What was this? Maybe saltwater?

**showroom** · 09-10-2014, 08:09 AM

I went to do a boat yesterday the customer said it was oxidized pretty bad. When I got there the oxidation wasn't bad at all. What he thought was oxidation was the waterline and down. It wasn't that brown nasty scum but I acid washed it anyway and it was still there. I used Makita rotary and wool pads with marine 31 heavy oxi remover and it hardly touched it. Then I sanded the hell out of it with 1000 and buffed again. sand then buff then sand then buff then sand then buff. When I got there it was solid white now it is blue like it should be but you can still see the line where it was. WHAT WAS THAT and is there something else I could have done?

Mike Phillips · 09-10-2014, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by showroom

Then I sanded the hell out of it with 1000 and buffed again. sand then buff then sand then buff then sand then buff.

That sounds like a lot of sanding and buffing! Been there and done that just the other day ago....

Pictures: 1960 Glastron - Wetsand, Cut & Buff at Marine31Online.com

Originally Posted by showroom

When I got there it was solid white now it is blue like it should be but you can still see the line where it was. WHAT WAS THAT and is there something else I could have done?

Sounds like whatever it was it has penetrated deep into the gel-coat. I found water spots and oxidation that had penetrated deep into the gel-coat for this recent project but sanding and buffing removed it.

How to wetsand, cut and buff a gel-coat boat

Water Spot Stains & Oxidation
Not only is the entire hull filled with holograms from the misuse of a rotary buffer, (the normal practice by most boat detailers), the gel-coat is also oxidized and covered with water spot stains.

This is the flash off my camera, if you look closely you can see my outline in the hull... (barely)

Did you take any before pictures?

Mike Phillips · 09-10-2014, 08:56 AM

Also just to note, I moved this out of the forum group for

How to articles

Because it's not really an article that shows people "how to" do something it's more of a question thread.

**David Hayward** · 09-10-2014, 09:11 AM

Sounds like you did all you could. The question I have though, you said it was the water line down? So was the boat docked all year or all boating season pending your climate and where was it docked? Also if the water line down is covered in something my guess is the boat stays in the water all year and he should just have some sort of bottom paint on it instead of the bare gelcoat finish.

**showroom** · 09-10-2014, 10:43 AM

I did take a few pics...having trouble uploading them. Im in MI which explains why I have NO experience in salt water. customer just bought the boat online and had it delivered from WV but said it had spent "some time in Florida"

Mike Phillips · 09-10-2014, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by showroom

I did take a few pics...having trouble uploading them.

First, make sure the pictures have a NORMAL file name. It has to end in

.jpg

And there cannot be any blank spaces in the file name,

my picture.jpg --> wont' work because there's a space between the word my and pictures

mypicture.jpg --> this will work.

How to upload a photo into your Autogeek Photo Gallery

Next, if your pictures are HUMONGOUS and that's often times the case, then you need to resize them to a SANE file size. I show how using free software here,

How to resize your photos before uploading to a photo gallery - Using Easy Thumbnails

I upload and post hundreds of pictures every week. I'm self taught. It's not that hard.

How to insert an image from your photo gallery into your message