Bringing the shine back on gel coat

[vanderd]

I have a 44 ft Powercat that’s looking rather dull. We’re currently on the hard in NJ. The Marina quoted 12 grand to compound and wax both the hull and topside. I’m sure it would look great but that’s far beyond my pockets. I don’t mind hard work and I’m wondering if wet sanding might be easier and quicker than compounding. I look forward to hearing pros or cons

[LLCoolDave]

I have a 40 year old boat and I saw this post by Ann Cate and I saved it. I haven't tried it yet.

"If you want to improve the appearance of the gelcoat, use TSRW or PolyGlow, and it will help for about 1 yr. We used it on our previous Insatiable, and it really helped. Poly Glow is a two pack deal, a special cleaner that does surface prep, and a polymer you apply right after. It fills the porous part of the gelcoat, and then polymerizes over it, leaving a shiny surface. Can be done in the berth the boat is in, in the water."

[vanderd]

I appreciate your thoughts. The boat is a 2006 and it’s a bit dull. I’d rather bring it back and save the surface coating solution for a later time

[Benz]

I'd buy a good buffer and use two grits of compound. Buffer's about $300; compound >$100. It's all about the time you take to be thorough.
If you wet-sand, you'll still have to buff....

[Gary Mc]

My boat came to me with very dull gel coat. I buffed it with 3M Imperial Compound about 8 years ago.

It came up nice and shiny and was really not that much work.

Still looks very nice.

[chris mac]

Buy a buffer, and some cleaner/protector compound. That will shine it up. The more time you put into it, the better it will look.
It will only cost you 300-500 bucks.
The problem is it will only last 6 months to a year(whether you do it or hire it out) so it will be an annual thing

[rslifkin]

As long as there's enough gelcoat thickness, you can wet sand (if needed), compound, polish, etc. as much as you need to get the gelcoat looking good. The only time it's an issue is if you start running out of thickness. Once you get it looking good, keep a good coat of wax on it at all times and it'll stay looking good without too much further work (beyond re-waxing). Every once in a while it'll need the wax stripped and a light polish.

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by vanderd

I have a 44 ft Powercat that’s looking rather dull. We’re currently on the hard in NJ. The Marina quoted 12 grand to compound and wax both the hull and topside. I’m sure it would look great but that’s far beyond my pockets. I don’t mind hard work and I’m wondering if wet sanding might be easier and quicker than compounding. I look forward to hearing pros or cons

I’ll be happy to do it for $10,000.

[boatman61]

I did this on a Westerly I owned back in the 90's, a 31ft mono.
The top sides were gel coat but the hull had been done with Awlgrip.
Everything was looking somewhat faded so I bought some bottles of T-Cut, a liquid compound and hand buffed the top sides then when the boat was lifted out to drop the rudder for new bearings etc I hand buffed the hull.
She gleamed by the time I had finished.. still looked great when I sold her 2yrs later, only boat I ever made a profit on..
We were in a small fishing port called Andratx in Mallorca at the time and let's face it, it's just another maintaince job so why not by hand..
One thing I have found good for preserving the top sides is to not let any dew dry naturally.. my first job of the day is to grab my mop and mop down the top sides wringing it out regularly.. stops the pollutants getting bedded in.
If I recall correctly the total cost for materials was around 50 quid.

[Locquatious]

We removed the chalkiness with Finesse-it polishing liquid and a lot of hand rubbing. We removed any stains and excess wax with Ospho. Next we washed the boat and waxed it with Awlgrip Awlcare. The surface came up nicely and is easier to clean.
Yearly wash and wax with Awlcare. Each year the hull will begin to look almost painted.

[Paul Kelly]

I buffed up the hull of my Westerly Storm 33 last year before launch. I used something called Farecla G3 It was about £40 GDP for a 5 litre tub and I used about half.

You can use this with a electric polisher. I found it easier to apply by hand. It's abrasive and gets the dirt and surface layer off and brings the hull back to a good shine. You rub it on and polish it off with a wet cloth.

It took me a couple of days (with some help) to do my hull. I think we could have done it a bit quicker. Allow 2 - 3 days for a 44 footer. If Farecla is not available in the USA I am sure there are local equivalents.

[Blue Ribbon]

Check out Island Girl products. I've been using on my current boat for almost 20 years and it looks like new. About the same amount of work as compound and wax, but less damage to gel coat.

[Scubaseas]

Depends on how "chalky" it is. For severe chalking you might have to wet sand (1200 or even 600 wet/dry and use a sanding pad) but if you sand you will have to compound.
Next step down would be rubbing compound Dupont #7 or 3M is fine. Next step down would be polishing compound. There are several cleaner/polishing and wax all in one compounds out there. Use a good quality polisher (max 3600 RPM NOT a grinder which run 5 to 6000RPM). My choice would be a Makita 7" variable speed with lambs wool bonnet for compounding or polishing and a foam bonnet for wax application. You can get good quality and advice by buying the bonnets and materials from an auto body supply store. It's going to be quite a work out no matter if done by hand (why?) or machine. Don't know if your yard will allow it but find someone with auto body detail or polishing experience and hire them to do the job if you don't want to. $12K is ridiculous "we don't want to do it" kind of price.

I have had excellent results on ancient hulls from: Cleaning the hull well with TSP based wall prep or a good detergent. Rub out as necessary with rubbing compound or polishing compound on a wool bonnet and followed with hard carnuba wax on a dedicated wool bonnet. You will also need a "Spur" to clean the bonnets occasionally. Try small sections. You maybe able to get away with just wax or a cleaner wax. Or just polishing compound. I have had only one boat out of 7 that needed wet sanding and it was 40 years old and never waxed or stored inside. Try cleaner/wax first on a small (4ft.sq) area, if that doesn't work go to polish and wax. If that fails go to compound and wax. If that is dull go to rubbing compound and wax.

I'm disabled but I'd do the whole job for $8K.

[fred4936]

We struggled for a long time bringing our old boat back to a shine. We even paid the yard to buff it out. They failed. What finally worked was getting a good buffer (I bought the Dewalt, many like the Makita), a good 3M wool pad, and I used Total Buff and Total Shine from Jamestown Distributors. I think the wool pad came from there too. Finished with Colinite Fleetwax. It looked great! You could not tell the boat was 40 years old! Will be doing same thing to the new boat this spring. Don't waste time and money with the cheaper buffers and small wheels, and one step cleaner-wax.

[Cheechako]

It depends on actual condition. But a big buffer and 3M Finesse It works quite well. Try the White first. If you need more aggressive then try the Tan.
These foam pads in a drill are effing amazing with Finesse It, but for a boat you'd probably go through too many of them!