DIY Buffing my boat...Not bad for an Amateur-gctid810118

[Apurpura]

I have a 1985 Trophy and I don't think anyone has ever buffed the hull out. It looked terrible so I decided to try and buff it out to see what it would look like. I have an old boat laying around that I am getting rid of so I tried my skills on that one first. I have to say it came out a lot better than I thought it would. My son thought the boat was all white and I was painting it champagne color, that's how oxidized it was. It took me a while to do my 24' Trophy but it was worth it. Bottom line don't be afraid to try it, I think mine came out pretty good. As soon as it stops raining I will be waxing it.

Does anyone have any advice on getting the gelcoat to shine on the top horizontal places. I tried but no luck, don't want to burn through with the pad. I took a couple of pics as I was going.


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[driz]

I'm doing mine right now and I truly feel your agony. My thought is once you have the sides and bottom whipped the top sides are a snap. Your back, arms , neck , knees all will agree. That buffer weighs 50 lbs after 15 minutes working out of position but up top it's all gravy. Like buffing anything just watch the sharp edges. Try to buff off not down onto them as the disk cuts many times faster when you hitting a sharp edge. I usually do those by hand:sick:

[Apurpura]

My arms feel like rubber after about an hour of doing this. How can I get the top as shiny as the sides? The top is very oxidized, I am concerned that I cut to much on top. I am assuming after waxing it, it will be ok but this is the first time I have done it. Thanks.

[Boyd]

I'm sure you can get your top sides to shine but it will take some work to remove the oxidation that has taken hold after years of non- maintenance. It will take a buffer, the right products and time. There are a lot of articles on the web on how to accomplish your goal. Here is a good one. Browse You Tube for some great instructional videos by professionals.

http://www.sailnet.com/forums#/topics/52772?page=1

[Apurpura]

Good web page but I felt like I had to take a shower after going on it. Ha ha ha....thanks for the help I appreciate it. I will post a pic after my arms fall off from trying to polish it and get it to shine.

[Guest]

Heavy Cut compound with a Wool pad set at 1200-1400 RPM"s. Do small sections at a time and I keep compound wet with spray bottle on Heavy Oxidized area's.

[Solandri]

"Apurpura" post=810314 wrote:
How can I get the top as shiny as the sides? The top is very oxidized, I am concerned that I cut to much on top. I am assuming after waxing it, it will be ok but this is the first time I have done it. Thanks.

I spent a couple days on the sides - compound, polish, wax. Boat looked brand new when I was done. I think I could've sold it for $10k more than I paid for it at that point. My arms felt like jello though.

I just did a single pass of the compound on the top (upward facing horizontal surfaces), no polish or wax. Those are surfaces I could potentially have to step on while the boat is pitching and rolling. I'd prefer to have them oxidized, rough, and grippy, rather than shiny and slippery.

[driz]

At least yours is white whis the most forgiving color . Looking at it again I wonder if you are using too light a compound. I went with the heavy red paste rubbing compoundand on found that even that was too slow in the heavily oxidized areas.

Then I fell back on my body shop hobby background and got some 2000 grit wet / dry sandpaper and a spray bottle with soapy water in it. Then I thought of my air D/A sander. Since they don't make disks that fine that tick on unless you buy commercial quantities I just got a 3 sheet pack cut my own and glued them on using spray adhesive. ( FYI they do make small packs of Velcro backed) .It worked fine and was infinitely faster and easier than the agony of just buffing through even moderate oxidation. After hazing it with the2000 it buffed right out. I got most of the small scratches in the process.

Yours is a lot easier to deal with than my Capri. It has only a few surfaces that are cramped idle much of mine has so many angles meeting that I rarely got to put the pad down flat lie you see in videos and demonstrations. If you don't have air or electric just get a rubber sanding block. That will work fine and dandy for you just keep the sandpaper off the no skid areas up top I would think. Now break out the aspirin andinch:

[Ruffryder]

Heavily oxidized, possibly using a lighter compound.

Wet sanding her down might be a good idea...

[driz]

"Ruffryder" post=810610 wrote:
Heavily oxidized, possibly using a lighter compound.

Wet sanding her down might be a good idea...

You did mean a heavier compound in you? Mine wasn't even all that bad and I still didn't want to deal with the light stuff. I just laid right into it with the old red rubbing compound heavy duty stuff used to use on lacquer cars . That gets it off of there and then you just hit a lick of something thinner and put the wax on it. I tried the light stuff earlierand I gave up ,too much grinding and heavy machine holding for me working upside down and around the trailer.

I swear that gray is the very worst color there is, no wonder they dumped it quick.. I swear that oxidation is deep inside not on the top. You buff it normally and it just leaves a milky translucent fog like an indistinct stain.