Best way to buff up grip decks and coachroof to bring back a shine?

[steve yates]

The oxcalic acid did a great job on the grp decks etc, it's so much whiter now!

Seems to be a flat Matt white tho, without the shine & gloss still evident in grp areas of the cabin.

What's the best way to bring the shine back?
Was wondering about using a car polishing type buffer on a hand drill to polish the shine back? Is that a good or a bad idea?
Thx.

 

[Concerto]

You have already commented in my post on gel coat restoration, so you know the information is there to answer your questions.

 

[crewman]

I would not want to make the decks slippy

 

[steve yates]

You have already commented in my post on gel coat restoration, so you know the information is there to answer your questions.

Yup, thank you. I had posted this before I saw that. I read through both your pdf's from end to end as soon as I saw them posted.

That said, there seems to be many ways to skin a cat for most boat tasks on these forums, and its very useful to hear other ideas on alternatives, rather than take one single posters as gospel, no matter how good a job they did. And of course, there are varying levels of detail. Eg, I had to go and look up what compounding was after reading your pdf's , as I had never heard of it.

Still wondering about this
"Was wondering about using a car polishing type buffer on a hand drill to polish the shine back? Is that a good or a bad idea? "

 

[steve yates]

I would not want to make the decks slippy

Good point, but thats what the deck paint is for isn't it?

 

[SimonP85]

I've always found this stuff great for non-slip decks:

Non-Skid Deck Cleaner

 

[Concerto]

Still wondering about this "Was wondering about using a car polishing type buffer on a hand drill to polish the shine back? Is that a good or a bad idea? "

You can use a drill but it does not have the weight and power of a sander polisher. You also need a good speed control, which many drills do not have, as you do not need high speed rotation with larger discs and foam heads.

Using marine deck paint does give a good finish but some people have used exterior wall paint like Santex quite successfully. I should also mention the non slip element of deck paint can be bought loose and added to any one pot gloss paint, very useful if you want a special colour deck. Another high grip surface is to paint the deck with gloss paint and as you work cover with washed and sieved silver sand. Once dry, brush off the excess sand for reuse and vacuum the decks. Then coat with a further coat of gloss paint. If it is too grippy, then add a further coat of paint. Be warned it can whilst sailing be like working on sandpaper and wears out shoes, boots, jeans and oil skins. I have heard a few people use sugar instead of sand and it will wash out after a short time leaving small holes in the paint which then collect dirt.