?? How to Make a Dull Hull Shiny ??

[Osprey410]

I just purchased my first sailboat and am trying to restore the original paint on the hull. It is very dull with absolutely no shine what so ever. I wet sanded her slightly to give her a flat and smooth/clean surface. I tried to polish and wax the paint with a buffer and no luck getting any shine.

Any ideas for me?

1966 Islander 21 -
note the dark area - that's where I polished and waxed.

[preserved_killick]

Hi Osprey410,

Gelcoat I'm assuming?

There's some good reading on the subject here:
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-main ... h-wax.html

Lots of work.

-jeff

[Osprey410]

It's the original paint so I am assuming gel coat, yes. This is my first sailboat and unlike cars, I am unfamiliar with the finishes.

[Rachel]

Hi Osprey,

That does look like it's probably the original gelcoat. As such it's not really a paint, but, as I understand it, is a catalyzed polyester product that is more similar to resin. Basically, it is sprayed into the female mold before the glass/resin go in, and so it ends up as the outside surface.

You can usually wetsand or buff/compound it back to a shine, depending on how much gelcoat thickness you have left. If it's too thin you might go right through before you get it back to shiny. But probably, especially if it has not been compounded before, you will be able to bring it back.

I don't know exactly how you have gone about it to-date, but the first time I tried to compound a hull, I was getting nowhere fast. Okay, not nowhere, but about like your photo: some difference but not really shiny. I was using a "homeowner" buffer with some Meguiar's compound (heavy duty). Well, my friend who owned the shop came in, saw what I was doing, and came over with a much larger, metal Milwaukee buffer with a nice big 3M pad on it (like a Superbuff), and he laid into it (compared to my somewhat tentative attempts). In no time that one section was so shiny that he had instantly set me up for days of sore shoulders in getting the rest of the boat that shiny.

Since then I've done a few more boats, and, not having a heavy duty buffer, have simply rented a matching Milwaukee buffer (like the one my friend had used). I bought one of the 3M pads to put on it (it's a special pad that has a threaded center hole - something like 9" in diameter - there are slight variations on pad composition depending on which compounding product you are using and your surface).

I have also wetsanded, and that works well too. If I remember correctly, I started with 400 or 600, and then worked my way up to 1000 or 1500. Very shiny.

Rachel

PS: I know Zach has a favorite Makita buffer that he recommends. It may be a better choice if you are going to buy one - it wasn't available when I did my jobs.

[Osprey410]

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah I am using an older black and decker orbital that I have used on my cars with good results. Guess it's time to nix that!

[Zach]

Collinite's insulator wax is the wax for aging gelcoat...

Buff it down with whatever system you prefer, 3m, mothers, mequires... and wax is with collinites... it's a pain in the rump to put on and buff off, but the results last for a while.

Zach