Polish

[cagey]

Hi, my boat hasn’t been polished for a long while. White GRP hull 25 plus yold, I have an electric rotary polisher multi speed with foam head.
my question is what heads should I buy and what product is best. I have arthritis so ease of use is important as I will be hand finishing near newly painted boot top.
Boat is Sigma 362
Thanks
Keith

 

[pvb]

Meguiars 45 Polish, two coats. Followed by Meguiars 56 Pure Wax, two coats. That should last two seasons. It's easy to use - I do it all by hand.

 

[cagey]

Thankyou

 

[Poecheng]

I have gone through this recently and am currently working on my boat. I got some very good advice from an expert forumite and hoped to get 3M kit but wasn't able to in the end (see different thread about buying 3M gear and confidently working out what you need) so the following is just what I bought and what I am working through at the moment (Never did 'all the gear, no idea' apply more).
There are three processes in your position (and mine): compounding (stage 1 and which pulls off the oxidation/fine scratches and leaves a decent shine), polishing (stage 2 - which takes out the surface imperfections left after stage 1 and puts on the finest shine) and sealant (stage 3)

I have a Rupes polishing machine with a 14mm thread so have bought;

Hardware
Farecla GMB814 8" flexible backing plate
Compounding: Farecla GMW811 Single sided wool compounding pad (velcro backed) x 2*
Polishing: GMF801 (black) polishing foams (these are in a pack of two)
* you need to pull the loose threads out of the pad before use and can get a Farecla spurring brush but it is approximately the same stiffness as a nail brush which will do the same trick.

Software
Compounding (1): Farecla Profile Select PRS101*
Polishing (2): Farecla Profile Finish PRF101

* I tried to give the lightest possible cut and so bought Farecla Profile Premium liquid PRL101 which is for lightly oxidised surfaces and has less cut and more gloss than Profile Select and Farecla suggest you don't need to polish (although I intended to do so). Looking at the respective cut and gloss profiles, I reckoned that although it was stated also to be a Stage 1 product, it was midway between stage 1 and stage 2. It has been really great in the most part but I have now ordered some Profile Select for one part where the fenders lie and which needs a heavier cut.

Sealant: Wax is traditional but I propose to apply a ceramic sealer coat Gtechniq C1 which is said to apply a new hard top surface and last longer than wax.

If you see PVB's pics on other threads of the finish he achieved by his routine then you will agree they are impressive.

I, like you, am playing catch up and I am very pleased with the areas so far done with Premium PRL101 and particularly a test area where I additionally did the Finish PRF101 with the GMF801 black foams.

Before starting, we spent some time giving it a very good wash down and viakal around/above the waterline to get rid of any possible scale present and then crawled all over the topsides to get rid of any marks etc (Starbrite Hull cleaner).

I have put the codes in for you to be as specific as possible - it is how I worked as otherwise I was not confident about what I was ordering and I spent quite some time trying with 3M (probs my stupidity). I bought from East Coast Fibreglass and from Farecla Online and both were good to deal with. Hope this helps and just letting you know what I did.

 

[cagey]

Thanks for humorous and detailed answer.
Keith