Buff or Wet Sand?

The gel coat on my 97 Sport is starting to look pretty rough. I'm wondering if this can be fixed with a nice buff job with some good rubbing compound and other products or if this is at the point of needing a wet sand? Any advice would be helpful. I posted pictures.

First thing is remove pin striping and decals, order new ones.

If the gelcoat is 'chalky' then absolutely wet sand. If it's just faded then you need to buff in a colour restorer, then polish followed by the wax. My SN was not as bad as that but worked well with these directions. My deck was chalky though and the wet sand followed by polish and wax fixed that up.

Allow couple of days and real effort to do it properly, it is worth it for the end result.

No harm in trying to buff out a section first.   I too think you will need to wet sand, but if the residue on the side is hard water spotting, it may come off with a good rubbing compound.   If you sand, you'll need to buff anyway, so you'll need all the buffing tools and compounds.   

There is little point in wet sanding an already smooth surface. As I said, I cannot see from pics whether those sides are chalky or just faded. If they are simply faded as mine were they need a mild cutting compound or colour restorer. They are pretty much the same thing. This will bring out the colour from the gelcoat, whereas wet sanding will rub the top of the surface only. This is definitely required with a rough chalky surface.

Your boat is in a condition where it really needs to be done properly ONCE. Afterwards it is only upkeep that you will need to do. The job will not be done properly if you do not remove the decals and striping. Trying to buff and cut around those decals will result in a poor finish in that area, plus the buff will start to rip into the print on top of the sticker and ruin them anyway.

My boat is the exact sane colour as yours and will come up great with a little hard work, new striping and decals.

The surface feels smooth. I don't think it feels chalky at all. Would you try buffing first or since it is quite oxidized go straight to the wetsand?

If I do go wetsand should I start with a higher number grit?

gpax wrote: The surface feels smooth. I don't think it feels chalky at all. Would you try buffing first or since it is quite oxidized go straight to the wetsand? If I do go wetsand should I start with a higher number grit?

You can try starting with 3M Super Duty rubbing compound with a rotary, that is a very aggressive compounding agent and you may find that wetsanding isn't necessary, but I wouldn't recommend using a color restorer as mentioned. All those are going to do is temporarily mask the problem and the oxidation will come back. You need to cut down the outer layer of oxidized gelcoat. Gel is very thick and it is quite forgiving to work with unlike automotive paint. You still have to be careful and know what you're doing but for the DIY like most of us here you definitely have a little more room for rookie mistakes.
My recommendation is to start on a small area where the oxidation is the worst and see how that area turns out for you, then decide what steps you need to take for the rest of the boat based on your results.

I bought some recently at pepboys and oriellys auto. At pepboys they were with the auto body repair stuff at oriellys they were in the back and the guy didn't know he had them. I had him look them up online and it showed he had them so he went and looked. Pepboys had better prices and they came in the smaller size which is all you really need.

Napa carries them as well.