Restoring Gel-coat

[baconbiscut]

I have a 1986 Formula 25 PC. Does anybody know of any good products to bring back the shine in my gel-coat. I would really like to get this thing all nice and shiny again. Thanks,Dan

 

[baconbiscut]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

bump

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

Boat restoration and building forum.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

Dan, lots of elbow grease, use the rubbing compound first, then the wax. don't do the damaged areas, until after the repairs are done. with these you will have a full school break, get your buddies to help.


http://www.iboats.com/Paste_Rubbing...d.366087--list_time.1197755976--view_id.39961

http://www.iboats.com/3M_Marine_Ult...d.217277--list_time.1197756064--view_id.39242

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

+1 to tashasdaddy. Mild rubbing compound and a lot of hard work. Nothing magic to it, sorry.
I have used the 3M Cleaner and Polish for lighly faded tannish color with good results. The Meguire's rubbing compound I have used on the white with pretty good results. But it's still a lot of manual labor. Even with a circular polisher. And with all the curves and edges on a boat you end up doing a lot of it by hand anyway. Good luck, post before and after pictures, please.

 

[wca_tim]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

If there is a lot of damage from son, etc... and depending on what color og gelcoat, how thick, etc... might be well served to wetsand first. On my current project, the gelcoat was heavily oxidized and like chalk on the outside when i started. The boat is black with silver metalflake and a thick layer of clear gelcoat. I wound up going all the way to 320, then worked back to 1200 / 1500 grit wetsanding, followed by aquabuff (high speed compound made for cutting gelcoat, water soluble, worked GREAT, recommended on one of the forums for exactly this and washes back off). Finish off with molishing compound, machine glaze of filches... top off with some good marine wax... the difference was absolutely amazing...

Hope this is helpful!

Tim R.

 

[baconbiscut]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

here is a pic of how the gel-coat looks

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

as the old man said in karate kid movie. wax on, wax off. I say, compound on, compound off. then wax on, wax off.

 

[Robj]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

I bought a new random orbit sander yesterday, and to my suprise, it came with a polishing attachment, for both waxing and cut polishing. I agree it will take much longer using a small random orbit sander for polishing a boat, but I think it will work great for the smaller areas, that are difficult with a larger polisher. You may want to consider something like that.

Have a great day,

Rob.

 

[wca_tim]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

The aqua-buff product I read about on another forum worked absolutely great. In my case the oxidation in the clear coat was bad enough that I had to wetsand to get all the oxidation off - I got away with it because the clear was a mile deep over the metal flake. The picture below was just the first cut with the aquabuff. It got a lot better even than that. Note that I had already scrubbed the whole thing using broducts designed to remove oxidized gelcoat - it wasn't pretty when I started. Was extremely pleased at how this one turned out in the end. High speed buffer is the only way to go. Would have taken months by hand.

 

[gerard 7316]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

Try a product from yachtbrite called buff magic. I just compounded out a boat that was sitting uncovered for ten years. The gelcoat was dull and full of black mold spots and dirt.After a thorough cleaning, I tried the red 3m heavy duty rubbing compound, with a professional variable speed buffer.results not very good. I then tried a small area side by side the 3m that was just buffed out. results-amazing. If this product cannot bring your gelcoat back to life, then your gelcoat needs wetsanding or repainting or regelcoating.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Restoring Gel-coat

Wouldn't dakota shine work? Or is this product just a rip off? I've been tempted to try it myself.
"http://www.dakotashine.com/"