Doing a 21' boat with meduim to hi oxidation. Using Porter cable 7424. What products/pad should I use?

[Mantilgh]

Thanks, I guess I didnt really just ask, is it a bad idea to use the light scouring pad and the following it with the heavy compound on a wool pad?

This is just from reading here, and not from experience.

I believe a longer nap wool pad designed for use with a rotary will not be very effective when used with a short throw DA.

I have read of use of the scuff pads followed up by a rotary and a wool pad on gel coat.

You'll probably have to spend some money somewhere. Either lots of foam pads because over working them will destroy them. Lots of microfiber cutting pads for more cut, but the same as above. Or a rotary and some wool pads with the pre scuff.

You may also be a able to scuff then wet sand with your DA(grit?) then compound, or polish, depending on what grit you can get away with. Or multiple sanding steps, followed by compound, and/or polish. High quality sanding disks aren't cheap either.

Maybe a lower quality rotary and good quality compound and pads.

The only way to really know is to go out and test some things out on it. "Test Spot"

[Zee19]

So I used the scuff pads and wet sanded it with soap and water then went over it with a very heavy 3m compound using the pc7424 and some lake country kompressor pads (the orange ones). The oxidation came out 95% I was shocked how well it came out. I then went over it with a light polish and some orange ccs pads. Then waxed it with some carnuba marine/Rv wax. It came it pretty good I'd definitely recommend the same process to anyone

[GSKR]

Whats a scuff pad

[Zee19]

Just some really fine sandpaper with a foam backing I got at local marine shop

[Mike Phillips]

Just some really fine sandpaper with a foam backing I got at local marine shop

Man I've been typing this for years and here goes again....


It's easy to sand, that is it's easy to put scratches into the gel-coat. The tricky part is getting them out.


That's what you're going to do if you use these scuff pads, in simple terms you'll be sanding. Then, in the same way it's going to take you forever to remove heavy oxidation using only a Porter Cable dual action polisher it's going to take you forever to remove your sanding or scuff marks.

I saw this thread pop up but it was either after I left work on Friday or over the weekend.

I cover how to use a Porter Cable an other entry level dual action polishers to restore a severely oxidized gel-coat boat in my how-to book but I stress strongly that it's a huge undertaking and the right way to do it is either by,

Machine sanding followed by using a rotary buffer to compound out your sanding marks.

Machine compounding using an aggressive compound and a wool pad on a rotary buffer.

I'd have to check my book, How to detail boats with Marine 31 to see exactly what I recommended for trying to do this type of work with only a PC but regardless it's an uphill job all the way.


Without a doubt, the most in-depth book I've ever written...

BOOK: How To Detail Boats With Marine 31 by Mike Phillips

[Zee19]

Hey Mike, thanks for the response. All I can say is what I did and how it came out. No scratches, oxidation gone about 95%