Wet Sanding
Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Boat Maintenance
Forum Discription: Discuss maintenance of your Correct Craft
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40084
Printed Date: November-16-2024 at 9:49am
Topic: Wet Sanding
Posted By: prski
Subject: Wet Sanding
Date Posted: October-18-2016 at 10:08am
I recently purchased an 86 silver nautique from a forum member. Its a great original boat. After 30 years the black gel coat has faded. I've read about wet sanding and polishing but need some advice. Some of the research I've done suggests I need to know if I have enough gelcoat to wet sand. I'm a very good auto detailer and good with a buffer and polishing compounds etc but gel coat is new to me. Does anyone have some advice on this topic? thanks ------------- paul |
Replies:
Posted By: Mojo
Date Posted: October-18-2016 at 10:18am
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Paul, Welcome to the site. And congrats on picking up one of the coveted model SN's. You'll find some very helpful posts on here and many of us have tackled dark hulls with amazing results. You'll find the gel very forgiving to work with. Start with your compound with a wool pad and see if that gets you to where you want to be. If not, start with a lessor grit paper 1000 or 800 until you get the color coming back and eliminate any of the fine scratches you encounter. If you need to get more aggressive, I've gone to 600 before without a problem. Then come back up at least 1000 grit before compounding and finishing buf passes, Take your time, ask questions and send pics of the progress. We should be able to get you there... The decals and striping is available, so you'll be able to bring the boat back to factory without a problem.. eh, not sure about the transom decals though. You'll need to inquire about that.. Good luck... Moj' ------------- 05' SV211 TE 73' Martinique had:96' SNOB had:76' Nautique had 77 Tique |
Posted By: prski
Date Posted: October-18-2016 at 10:51am
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Thanks for the advice, It sounds like I can't harm the gel by sanding with 600 or higher. I've pulled the boat for winter and want to work on the hull. I have a complete set of decals to factory spec the previous owner gave me but the original decals look very good for their age so if I can get the gel back to shiny black the boat will look way better than the guy skiing behing it! ------------- paul |
Posted By: Hollywood
Date Posted: October-18-2016 at 11:33am
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None of us can know how thick your current gelcoat is but if original there should be plenty left for a full sand and buff. As Dave mentioned, don't go remove decals yet, some of those are not available off the shelf. You'll need good pictures and a tracing. |
Posted By: Waterdog
Date Posted: October-18-2016 at 11:59am
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Congratulations on your new boat. The color will come back with some elbow grease. What number is your Silver Nautique? ------------- - waterdog - http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=3896&sort=&pagenum=2&yrstart=1978&yrend=1978" rel="nofollow - 78 Ski Tique |
Posted By: prski
Date Posted: October-18-2016 at 12:14pm
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thanks for the advice and encouragement. I'll post pix of my progress. ------------- paul |
Posted By: prski
Date Posted: October-18-2016 at 12:15pm
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Its number 6. You have a beautiful Silver SN in your profile picture. Hope to get mine to look that good. ------------- paul |
Posted By: Waterdog
Date Posted: October-18-2016 at 1:20pm
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My boat is # 12 You'll lov the way the rainbow metal flake sparkles on the water at the end of the day.  ------------- - waterdog - http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=3896&sort=&pagenum=2&yrstart=1978&yrend=1978" rel="nofollow - 78 Ski Tique |
Posted By: prski
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 11:41am
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Update - Advice welcome I have wet sanded several sections of the hull with 1000, 1500 and followed with 2000. I used a wool pad and Marine 31 heavy oxidation polish and Marine 31 final polish. I can get the black gel coat darker in color but can't get a shine. Any advice? ------------- paul |
Posted By: flyweed
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 12:40pm
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more shine = more polishing. There is no quick and easy to this. I just went through all of this with my boat and she turned out amazing. after 2000 grit, then you start in with the buffing compounds..and just keep going until it's reflective like a mirror...THEN you do your final polish and wax. ------------- '93 Ski Nautique NWZ, Air Boom Tower Drink Tonight..for tomorrow We Ride! |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 12:45pm
| Wool pad... On a rotary polisher? |
Posted By: prski
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 1:29pm
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just to follow you clearly, are you saying keep sanding with 2000 and eventually I will see the shine return in the black gelcoat? ------------- paul |
Posted By: prski
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 1:31pm
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yes, I spoke with the experts at autogeek and Mike Phillips does boat restoration and recommends a wool pad, rotary polisher and Marine 31 products. Concerns? ------------- paul |
Posted By: Hollywood
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 1:34pm
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Making sure you're not using a cheap random orbital. 2000 seems like a waste of time. I personally find polishing a lot more enjoyable than sanding. 1000, maybe 1200 or 1500 then heavy cut compound, intermediate polish (missing step?) then final polish seems to be the recommended process. I usually do 2 passes before moving on. |
Posted By: Mojo
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 1:43pm
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As said above Have to use a decent high speed polisher, nothing of the orbital type from those catalog houses. **2000 isn't needed.. Waste of time **Start at 1000 and if you don't get back down to the color you're looking for go down **End with 1200 **Heavy cut compound with a wool pad ** Finishing compound on a foam pad **Wax  ------------- 05' SV211 TE 73' Martinique had:96' SNOB had:76' Nautique had 77 Tique |
Posted By: Mojo
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 1:55pm
Not sure if many have used the Marine 31 products, `but many of us have had success with: Meguire's #67 Compound 3M Finesse it polish Both on high speed buffers, not orbitals....... You'll have to actually go through the whole process to see how much color and shine will come back. Just sanding really isn't going to measure this. Take an area and go through all the steps, and you'll see exactly how you're doing. No guarantees on getting "Black" back to factory spec, but I'm sure you'll get color and shine back to where you like it.. ------------- 05' SV211 TE 73' Martinique had:96' SNOB had:76' Nautique had 77 Tique |
prski wrote:Posted By: prski
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 2:29pm
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Great advice, I will follow the suggestions and post updated pix. thank you ------------- paul |
Posted By: 8122pbrainard
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 3:03pm
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Paul, What type of buffer have you been using? ------------- /diaries/details.asp?ID=1622" rel="nofollow - 54 Atom /diaries/details.asp?ID=2179" rel="nofollow - 77 Tique 64 X55 Dunphy Keep it original, Pete < |
Posted By: flyweed
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 3:27pm
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Again, here is the steps I followed, to the letter, with amazing results. wetsand 800, 1000, 1200 3M Super Duty Compound on a 1" pile wool pad, 2x 3M Perfect-It II Compound on a 1.5" pile wool pad, 1x 3M Finesse-It II Finishing Material (this is a polish) on a wool/acrylic blend polishing pad, 2x Collinites 925 wax, by hand with a microfiber cloth I used a power polisher I had..didn't want to buy new... It was from a local DIY box store, and I think it cost me about $50. It has variable speeds, and worked well. ------------- '93 Ski Nautique NWZ, Air Boom Tower Drink Tonight..for tomorrow We Ride! |
Posted By: lakedog55
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 5:01pm
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The shine won't come back until you start to polish. ------------- Lakedog55 |
Posted By: Mojo
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 5:13pm
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Guys, What Pete is trying to get to is what buffer is being used. Paul isn't getting the shine that he wants. The suspect machine might be an orbital, which wont supply the RPM and heat you need to polish the sanding out.. We know what works. Paul needs to fill in the blanks.. Either he has the wrong buffer or Marine 31 material isn't worth spit... ------------- 05' SV211 TE 73' Martinique had:96' SNOB had:76' Nautique had 77 Tique |
Posted By: flyweed
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 6:02pm
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agreed on the buffer he's using. I might add...on my recent sand and polish job..I did NOT see the mirror like finish until I got into the 3M Perfect it II compound..then results started to amaze me. all the sanding just took out the shadowing, hazing, scratches and swirl marks, but was a fairly DULL finish. ------------- '93 Ski Nautique NWZ, Air Boom Tower Drink Tonight..for tomorrow We Ride! |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 6:26pm
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Remember that once you move past your most aggressive sanding grit, the purpose of each subsequent round of sanding/compounding/polishing is to remove the scratches created by the previous round.. If you are left with a dull finish, then you either the final round was not sufficiently fine or one of the steps along the way was ineffective. That could be due to a number of different things; to large of a jump between grits or polishing materials, insufficient smoothing due to lack of time, improper pad, wrong RPM, too little product, etc. There have been some beautiful results shared here (especially notable on dark/colored hulls). People have shared their recipes in detail- sanding grits and methods, polisher info, pad part numbers and use in conjunction with compound/polish material, etc. It's worth a search to dig up that treasure trove of info. |
Posted By: prski
Date Posted: October-31-2016 at 10:44pm
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You guys are awesome, thanks for all the great feedback and advice! I'm using a 10 year old Porter Cable Model 7424 variable speed random orbital. Its great on cars but do you recommend a better model for gelcoat polishing? I'm willing to buy a new one. thanks ------------- paul |
Posted By: 8122pbrainard
Date Posted: November-01-2016 at 12:57am
I feel Milwaukee is the best  ------------- /diaries/details.asp?ID=1622" rel="nofollow - 54 Atom /diaries/details.asp?ID=2179" rel="nofollow - 77 Tique 64 X55 Dunphy Keep it original, Pete < |
Posted By: GottaSki
Date Posted: November-01-2016 at 10:40am
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What Pete sez. its all that ------------- "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing." River Rat to Mole |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: November-01-2016 at 11:02am
| The 7424 is a good little random orbital polisher... But it's not gonna cut it on gel coat (literally). You need a rotary. The dewalt 849 wa a great unit if you can find an older used one. Not the best on the market following its redesign a few years ago I've heard... Milwaukee and makita have good reps but i haven't used either long enough to have an opinion. |
Posted By: Dreaming
Date Posted: November-01-2016 at 2:11pm
| I have a Dewalt the same style as Pete is suggesting. Works good, and I have no complaints, and have done several cars with it. I have not done my boat yet, but it's on the list for next year. A good buffer will last a long time, and will provide good results if you learn how to use it correctly. Porter cable is another brand I have seen a little cheaper. Since you're not a professional boat polisher, you don't necessarily need a new one that will provide you with 8 hrs of service each day for the rest of your life, so I bet you could get a used one if you searched Craigslist or some other classified site |