sanding versus compounding

C

chaddemler1980

Seaman
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
69
I am almost done restoring my boat. it was heavily oxidized and full of mossy growth from sitting for around 4 years. I washed it, acid washed it, washed it again with hull cleaner, block sanded with 180 grit and then again with 220 and a final light 400 grit wet sand. this took all the chalky junk off and it looks good. my question is should i still use a rubbing compound over this boat before waxing or can i go right to waxing? didnt the sanding do what the compounding would have done or is there something special about rubbing compound?
 
T

TheWoodCrafter

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Messages
414
Re: sanding versus compounding

I think you should do some more sanding.
400 grit is too course to start compounding and just waxing will not work.
You need to get the sanding scratches smaller. The only way to do that is sand with finner grit paper. Then to get rid of the scratches you need to compound.
I would sand with 800 then 1200. Then buy some good 3M compound and power buff it.
Only then would it be ready for wax.
 
ondarvr

ondarvr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
Re: sanding versus compounding

You would have been better off starting with 400 or finer paper.
The 180 scratches will be difficult to sand out and when hand sanding you typically need to go much finer than with a DA. The best way to find out how much work you have left would be to finish an area about 1 foot square and see what works best. The reason there's no exact answer is that depending on color, brand, type, age and condition of the gel coat, different grits may be needed to get good results. Plus sand paper and buffing compounds are diffferent from one brand to another and vary in quality, so they will give different results.
 
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