hull polishing time - recommend me stuff please

N

niccapotamus

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 Aug 2013
Messages
559
Visit site
We are coming out for a fortnight or so and it seems a good time to bring the old girls hull up to shiny scratch. First time i'll have done it and it looks like the PO didn't do it either.

GRP - white as usual. Not too bad, just the usual discolouring.

any recommendations please for:

240v polisher
what sort of bonnets
v light rubbing compound
polish

(that looks like everything I'll need - do you agree?) She's 30ft

many thanks!

nick
 
I am sure Marine Reflections will be along to give you a professionals view, but for starters:

Polisher - Rupes are the bees knees due to their light weight but are expensive; many recommend Silverline.

Bonnets - I would use 3M lambswool bonnets, white for compounding and yellow for polishing, you will not need to spray with water if you use these.

Compound - Again I would use 3M, depending on the condition of your hull, you may need the Imperial compound, which is fairly aggressive, followed by Finesse-It to get rid of swirl marks and produce the final shine.

Polish - 3M is again good, but I have used Megguires which seems to give better results on my dark blue hull.

Last year I took an alternative approach and used the Gtechniq range of products. This is a nano polish and uses different technology, it's worth checking out and results so far have been good.
 
niccapotamus said:
We are coming out for a fortnight or so and it seems a good time to bring the old girls hull up to shiny scratch. First time i'll have done it and it looks like the PO didn't do it either.

GRP - white as usual. Not too bad, just the usual discolouring.

any recommendations please for:

240v polisher
what sort of bonnets
v light rubbing compound
polish

(that looks like everything I'll need - do you agree?) She's 30ft

many thanks!

nick
Click to expand...
You could try a search as this comes up almost weekly...
Budget ?
Polisher, the cheapest is the Silverline at about £50, and after that you can look at 3M, Rupes, Makita at £200+ level. If it is in really top nick, you might get away with a random orbital, but I dont rate them much.
Back on the polisher , you need a decent backing pad, or something like the 3M twin sided wool bonnets (15-25), depending on which you prefer. Yellow, or white.
Polish is up to you.. Again 3M finnesse-it, or Maguires, or Farecla.. dont think it matters alot. Make sure you get Marine and not car as obviously car paint doesnt have alot in common with gel !
Wax again is almost personal. Any of the three mentioned companies will be fine. This you can do by hand.
3M do a drop down here as an example
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Marine/Home/Product/Selector/

But this is a USA site and sometimes they seem to change name across the water.
Anyway, if you can find their online Uk shop, you can get most of it from there.
The Silverline polisher is fine, if a tad heavy, but throw away everything except the machine !
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-Silverstorm-129659-Sander-Polisher/dp/B0021L95WA
 
I have just finished polishing our hull which hadn't been done for a few years so was quite dull and chalky.

I used a silverline polisher with farecla g3 compound and a g-mop with water to prevent overheating the gel coat. Then polished with auto glym and removed with bonnet that came with polisher. Waxed using meguiars.

Results are brilliant, looks as new.
 
Here's the thread from the year before last where I asked a similar question. Some wonderfully helpful replies especially from Marine Reflections who has made some great contributions to several posts related to gelcoat care. Try a search (google with site:ybw.com rather than the forum's hopeless search facility)
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?378455-Compunding-and-polishing-help
 
thanks folks! and thanks also for a link to that v useful thread laika

it looks like i'm buying the cheapo silverline as lots of people seem to use them OK. I'm watching a Makita on ebay but it is fifty quid already with three days to do :(

EDIT - just finished reading the previous thread, when I should be working. All the info I need and more. Need to read again tonight with a cuppa (I'm on the wagon so Wine is out sadly) and then start spending money (again!) ready for two days of conditioning, cutting, polishing and waxing.

the result will be worth it :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top