Polishing or paint

[1994almeida]

2007 boat and the gelcoat is very burnt.
Two years ago I had a polishing done but it didn't last long.
Is the best option a Polyurethane Paint or is it still possible to give this blue boat a good Polish?
Thanks

 

[Scott Danforth]

wetsand and polish

polish and wax should be done every year

I would spray gel prior to spraying paint.

 

[chevymaher]

Good wax it wont do that. Mine dont and it was horrible before I fixed the gel coat.
Ardex Ocean polymer is what I use twice a year.

 

[Lou C]

I’d try to restore the gel if you can, painting is expensive and may not be as durable as gel depending on what paint is used. That said I had mine painted in Imron ten years ago and it still looks great.

 

[todhunter]

You're going to have to wet sand before polish or the chalk just comes back. Wet sand, polish, wax.

 

[racerone]

Agreed,----you have to get rid of the oxidized layer of gel coat.----Wet sand and polish.------But everybody seems to have a different tolerance level for cosmetics.

 

[Grub54891]

My old boat was like that. I wet sanded and buffed to a glossy shine. Wax in the fall and spring. Good to go. It didn't take out the deep scratches but still looks good a few years later.

 

[1994almeida]

Thanks.
I will do this. Wet sand, polish, wax.

 

[Grub54891]

When i wet sanded I went up as far as 3000 grit.

 

[racerone]

Using some paint polish along with some old cloth like lingere works the best.

 

[edgepa]

I was told that I couldn’t bring back the color on this boat and I should paint it. Glad I didn’t listen. Wet sand 80/1500/2000. Three levels of rubbing compounds/ polish. Finished with wax.

 

[chevymaher]

Same experience I had with it. Don't do it. Obviously because it would look better than their new boat and that ain't right.

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

Glad I read this because I'll be doing this in the spring!

 

[garbageguy]

I think you'll need to be sure the gel/color layer will have enough depth remaining when the oxidized thickness is removed. Typically, one area of the surface has seen more UV degradation than others.

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

I've seen videos of people using (heavy cut) initially and using finer compounds after that. The end result looked great but is there some work involved that isn't being explained?

 

[Grub54891]

Well yes it’s work. But to me worthwhile. Easier to fix a gel scratch than a paint scratch. If you sand through the gel, you can decide weather to paint or re-gel at that point.

 

[todhunter]

I've seen videos of people using (heavy cut) initially and using finer compounds after that. The end result looked great but is there some work involved that isn't being explained?

There is no real magic, it's just a helluva lot of work to do the whole boat. I had to go all the way down to 180 grit in some places then work all the way up to 800, then 1000 grit AquaBuff, and finally AquaBuff 2000. I probably took a year off my shoulders' lives and I'd guess I have about 60 hours in wet sanding and buffing my 19ft runabout. It looks great from 10 ft, but I have some areas with lots of sanding swirls from the orbital sander that I couldn't get out.

 

[Grub54891]

There is no real magic, it's just a helluva lot of work to do the whole boat. I had to go all the way down to 180 grit in some places then work all the way up to 800, then 1000 grit AquaBuff, and finally AquaBuff 2000. I probably took a year off my shoulders' lives and I'd guess I have about 60 hours in wet sanding and buffing my 19ft runabout. It looks great from 10 ft, but I have some areas with lots of sanding swirls from the orbital sander that I couldn't get out.

Should have went to 3000.

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

There is no real magic, it's just a helluva lot of work to do the whole boat. I had to go all the way down to 180 grit in some places then work all the way up to 800, then 1000 grit AquaBuff, and finally AquaBuff 2000. I probably took a year off my shoulders' lives and I'd guess I have about 60 hours in wet sanding and buffing my 19ft runabout. It looks great from 10 ft, but I have some areas with lots of sanding swirls from the orbital sander that I couldn't get out.

My shoulders are shot so I was planning on picking up a variable harbor freight buffer doing the first test spots on the bottom. I'm going to try to work around the decals the best I can but plan on replacing them at some point. There is a local shop that does vehicle wraps and decals so that's on my list to check out.
Lots of valuable information in the above posts!

 

[Lou C]

for me no more colored gelcoat boats....
white gel....or Imron....