Wax on, Wax off. Gel coat restoration

[L-Robby]

Finally it boating weather here in eastern washington. Cleaning up the ol hot
rod for the season. Picked up the boat late last year. I Love how this bad boy
sits in the water. The boat was outside for about 2 years before I got my hands on it. Me and my skiing buddy hit it hard today. Got the top half
wet-sanded, cut and polished. Lots of elbow grease to go till next weekend, our first day out.

[L-Robby]

Also Im looking for the blue wave decals to finish off the back of the boat. Hopefully someone knows where to find them.

[Okie Boarder]

Looking good!

[michael hunter]

I had the blue wave made at a local vinyl sign shop. Just make them a pattern.

[Hagman]

Chad At Signpro 217 E 3rd The Dalles Oregon 97058 541- 296 -7446 He has the wave and letters in his file under Ron Hageman. He will make you the wave and send it to you.

[DAFF]

Almost a carbon copy of mine other than the interior ....

[wotan2525]

Man. So awesome! My arms and shoulders are so damn sore from wet-sanding for 2 days straight. How "shiny' should my boat be after getting to 2000 grit? It's improving but it's not shiny yet.

[waterproof mp3]

waxing my boat always takes forever but once your done you will really appreciate how it will turn out in the end.

[Ptownkid]

Until you get to the buffing with compound and a buffing pad, it won't be really shiny.

[01SupraLaunch]

Can one of you guys give us step by step how you did this? My boat has some oxidation I want to get out. Just purchased a lift and want her looking good sitting on it.

thanks!!

[Ptownkid]

There are many, many differing opinions on the exact grits to use but most people use a similar process. Instead of posting a link to one in particular my suggestion is to google "wet sanding gel coat" and read 4-5 of the results.

Generally people seem to go 400, 600, 800 and then use a buffing pad and compound. It really depends on how anal you want to be. I'm personally a bit of a perfectionist when i tackle things so I would most likely use another couple of finer grits first...but that's just me.

Cheers

[Ptownkid]

Forgot one important point...make sure to wash often and absolutely between grits to avoid particles causing problems like swirling.

[L-Robby]

I started with a 1000 grit and sanded a couple spots. Once the gel coat dried it was still chalky. I went to 800 grit and it did the job. It wont shine untill
it is cut with a buffing compound. Make sure your sand paper and gel coat stay wet. Switch sand paper when you dont feel it grabbing anymore. I used
2 buffing compounds on mine. First was a HD machine clean by PRO products.
Then when back over it with ultimate cutter, a lighter compund by PRO. Then
hit it with a polish. WOW. Take your time, you will be impressed with the
results.

[L-Robby]

The results are amazing

[Ptownkid]

Nice work Robbie!!! She looks great.

[sybrmike]

Yeah, looks great. Remember to get your shine with the sand/compound/polish steps - the wax is just to seal the finish. Wax, silicone, etc. alone can give a quick shine, but it will be short lived.

[wotan2525]

I started with a 1000 grit and sanded a couple spots. Once the gel coat dried it was still chalky. I went to 800 grit and it did the job. It wont shine untill
it is cut with a buffing compound. Make sure your sand paper and gel coat stay wet. Switch sand paper when you dont feel it grabbing anymore. I used
2 buffing compounds on mine. First was a HD machine clean by PRO products.
Then when back over it with ultimate cutter, a lighter compund by PRO. Then
hit it with a polish. WOW. Take your time, you will be impressed with the
results.

Thanks.... sounds like mine is going to turn out nice. I started with 600, then 800 then 1000 then 1500 then 2000. I'll be using 3m Rubbing Compound and then Finesse It II followed up with Marine wax. What a butt-load of work!

[sybrmike]

Done right - it's a lot of work, but the results can be amazing. My shoulders/arms/hands have a long memory & keep finding excuses to keep me from crawling underneath and finishing the running surface.

Again, looks great Robby!

[01SupraLaunch]

Are you guys wet sanding all by hand? I did redo an old truck so i get the wet sanding, just never did it on a boat and was worried about wrecking it. I literally only need to do the red stripe around the bottom of my boat.

[wotan2525]

I'm doing it by hand. I'll pull out the buffer/polisher when I get to the rubbing compound.

[sybrmike]

Sanded by hand, el cheapo Harbor Freight rotary buffer for compound/polish, and hand wax.

Or do a quick search - there's a recent thread here on a pneumatic wet sander from HF?

[L-Robby]

Finally done with the boats exterior. It was worth all the work. This thing is
going to look great on the water. Hopefully we'll go for a ride tonight after work. Can't wait !!!!!!!!!!

[csuggs]

Sweet! I love Comps, just can't fit my family in one! Looks great!!

[haugy]

DANG SON!!! Nice work. I love that high gloss shine on these old boats. I mean really love it.......like can I have a few minutes with your boat alone? :D

[wotan2525]

Mine is starting to look similar. I'm about 20 hours in. Half way done with compounding but I needed to order a 3" kit because my 8" buffer was grabbing plastic off the rub-rail and creating swirl marks. 3" kit should solve this problem nicely.

I started with 600, but if I did it again I'd go down to 400. The boat looks awesome but there are still a couple of small areas where I can tell we didn't go deep enough.

[Sunapee Sunsport]

Blue Wave Decals can be purchased through any Supra Dealer. Call Anthony at Skiers Choice and he can get you the proper part #'s to order. I just got mine about 3 weeks ago. Today Supra cuts and sends out actual vinyl not the original decal that faded over time.

[Okie Boarder]

Definitely looks good.

[haugy]

Blue Wave Decals can be purchased through any Supra Dealer. Call Anthony at Skiers Choice and he can get you the proper part #'s to order. I just got mine about 3 weeks ago. Today Supra cuts and sends out actual vinyl not the original decal that faded over time.

Can they do different colors? I really want the stripes and wave in all white.

[DAFF]

To keep the area clean where you are working try using an old wiper blade. It will save so much time. Also will show how uniform you are sanding.

[L-Robby]

Took the old horse to the lake today. Pulled my homie around the lake a few times. Man it feels good to be on the water again. Haugy, you help me out with the flat spot in my powerband when the secondarys open up. I'll give you the keys. LoL.

[Sunapee Sunsport]

Haugy,

I don't see why they could not do that call Anthony I think if you specify the color they should be able to cut.

[haugy]

Haugy, you help me out with the flat spot in my powerband when the secondarys open up.

Are you getting a quick drop and then they kick in? If you are cruising along at medium speed and slowly open it up till the secondaries kick in, does it hesitate? Or only when you go from cruising to hammer down?

Any work done to the carb? It could be the power valve or the vacuum for the secondaries letting air by so it's slow to kick in. I had the same problem on my Mariah.

And can you tell me what grit you started out with on your gel? I think I may have to start at 600 or 800 on this new project. The bow of yours really pops.

[supra wacko]

Congrats,

Enjoy the comp club, It shines like new when I see the pics.

Greetzzz

[supramariah#1]

I just did a 10 ft section on my Mariah. Its Black and white. The black is very oxidized. i went over it with 600 then 800 then compound. I still have a lot of black ox buffing off. I can also see the cloudyness in the black. the depth of the shine is still not there. what a lot of work. but the one section does look wayyy better. thanks for giving me the itch to do it. oh and you stink for giving me the itch all at the same time. lol ouch my arms.

[haugy]

Well, I'm going to need to get decals for 100% certain now. The boat I just boat was painted, and the artards left the decals on. So pulling them off has left a lovely color discrepancy.

So Anthony at Skier's Choice will be able to get me a solid color decal? How much do they normally run? Will they be able to get me one for my big Saltare?