Getting her back to a mirror finish

[Modulation]

Well, she is 11 years old and looks her age. The gel coat looks like an ironed white cotton shirt - and feels a bit like it too. I know that, in theory, one is supposed to be able to recreate the factory finish of a new boat using various cutting compounds but in practice.............?? Has anybody done it and how did it turn out? Would you recommend it. And what products did you use?
Thanks

<hr width=100% size=1>Brendan

 

[BrendanS]

There was an article in MBM a while back. They had 3M do a boat with cloudy gel coat. Looked absolutely fantastic when they finished.
Person to contact is Peter Furby of 3M and he'll give advice.

<hr width=100% size=1>There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."

 

[amadeus]

There was a thread about this last week; it must be boat polishing season! I brought my 11 year old 28 foot Parker home in October and read the PBO article that month. I bought the whole 3M kit which was a big investment including the polisher which is a slow variable speed angle grinder with velcro pads to attach to the head. The 3m kit comes as Cutting compound, finishing compound and wax polish. I would start with an oxalate bleach for the algae if I did it again, but I achieved the perfect gloss finish and it only took about 3 or 4 days of effort and I'm a girl! Next job scraping the hull, a little tougher!

<hr width=100% size=1>It's more fun than cleaning the house

 

[DepSol]

peter does a professional kit and i is the dogs do dahs the hull comes up like new


<hr width=100% size=1>Dom

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.soltron.co.uk>the website</A>

 

[VicS]

Yes I restored a dull pink to shiny red a number of years ago, I've had to do it again since of course. As someone else has pointed out this topic was aired very recently and a few weeks before that and back last winter, I think.

IMHO the 3M kit is very expensive. I notce in the current "Screwfix" catalogue that 400g of Farecla G3 paste is £6.69 and that the sponge compounding mops are £5.80. You'll need to hire a polishing machine or do as I did and make an adapter to fit the mop on an electric drill, but take note of the maximum speed for the mop and keep things nice and wet.

You should be able to find all the previous posts with a search without difficulty. Searching for the name Farecla will find them all.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple>

 

[AvanLoon]

Two years ago I polished my 25 yr old 28 footer. Bleached the hull first with oxalic acid, and then polishing, polishing, poli.... The cost? Almost nothing since I used simple Commandant 4 (car cleaner) on a cloth which I connected to a flat grinder. Sorry, that is what I had on my work bench. (to hold the cloth in place, I put a piece of grinding paper on the grinders foot). It took me about 3 days, but the result is very good. Not exactly the same shine as new, but that was 25 years ago, isn't it? I can see the neighbourhood in the finish, and eventually could see myself in the mirror. Acceptable, isn't it?
The best thing is, after finishing this job with a silicon wax, the yellow chalc moustache on the bow doesn't come back for the whole season!

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