Buff job

Well I finally got around to buffing out my Sea Ray. The previous owner had painted part of the green trim with cheapo silver rattle can spray paint to hide a small area of damage. I started by removing the paint with acetone and then buffed. The gel coat was oxidized as you would expect. I did try the Vaseline trick that so many swear by. It did give the area a shine, but not to my personal satisfaction. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of that experiment. I then took out the buffer and wool pad and proceeded to buff the gel coat using Meguiar's oxidation remover. the before and after are shown below. The shhine that came up is much better IMO than what the vaseline did. Including removing the bow rails and cleats, buffing the entire boat, and re-installing the cleats and rails, I invested about 6 or 7 hours hours into buffing the whole boat. It isn't perfect and there are dings and a few spots that could use some wet sanding with 1000 grit and buffing again but it is a whole lot better than it was before. Certainly very respectable for a 22 year old boat. The boat is in the barn and I can't get a good picture of the whole boat right now but I will update when I can.

Re: Buff job

Looks really good! I was amazed at how much difference sanding and buffing made when I did mine. Well worth the time you spent that is for sure.

Lets see some more pictures of the rest of the boat!

Re: Buff job

Excellent job. I spent Tuesday on the receiving end of a buffer. I've tried many tricks but nothing compares with a buffer and some good cleaner/wax.

Re: Buff job

I finally got around to taking some more pictures of the boat today.

Re: Buff job

Looks good. The Oxidation remover does a great job with a little elbow grease. The fact you went the extra mile and removed the hardware makes the job that much better!

Re: Buff job

I just did the same thing on my 89 Regal. The royal blue was white from oxidation before I started, but after I was done, it looked nearly mirror like. My wife came out and was amazed how much better it looked.

I tried the random orbital buffer but it was an excercise in futility. I borrowed my neighbors buffer with wool pad and made short work of the job.

Re: Buff job

Nice work!! Looks Great!!!

I need to do mine. How did you get the Sea Ray logo and lettering off? Mine appears to be 'glued' on. Also I have one that is missing part of the logo, does anyone know where I can get a new one?

Re: Buff job

Doernuth said:

Nice work!! Looks Great!!!

I need to do mine. How did you get the Sea Ray logo and lettering off? Mine appears to be 'glued' on. Also I have one that is missing part of the logo, does anyone know where I can get a new one?

Click to expand...

I removed the vinyl Sea Ray logo with a razor blade and a heat gun. The glue residue came off with acetone. The plastic/chrome "Seville" logos were cracked and looked like crap. Mine were held on with 3 pop rivets that I just drilled out. I still have tiny holes in the side of the boat from them. Haven't decided if I want to just put a white pop rivet in to fill the holes, or get more involved. They are well above the waterline anyway.

you can get new vinyl decals from e-bay and can also find just about any of the chrome badges there to. Search for "Sea Ray decal" or "Sea Ray emblem" and you will see a lot of them available.