Sanding Gelcoat

Has anyone every noticed a brownish/gray color of gelcoat when they have sanded a white hull. Im sanding my 76 Tique and trying to get the boat back to original white color from years of sun and Im having trouble getting the gelcoat to all blend the same color. I know the boat has never been painted or regelcoated, but its almost as if the gelcoat faded gray at first and then brownish color more recently. Hoping others have had this same problem and maybe someone may have advice on what they did.

Nautique78

That is a good looking boat! You have to be fairly aggressive to remove a color change like that. What grit did you start with? When I did the skier it was kind of scary at first because I used some pretty rough stuff. I want to say around 380 or maybe even a little rougher to remove some of the deeper scratches. It looked hazy until it got buffed, and what a difference!

What your seeing is the nasty water and grime that has embedded itself in the gel coat over the years especially on a 76 model. It won't be as bad as you sand to the cleaner gel.

Marty, I went through the whole process on my '90, and a neighbors boat as well. Let me know if you need any help. I'm up in Marion now. Sold the '90 after the dam broke. I gotta love your new rig, almost identical to our old Tique from Delhi.

'90 restore