polishing - orbital polisher advice

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gimmesunshine

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following my earlier post
i thought maybe if i buy myself a polisher then i might be able to the job quicker and better than by hand
is this any good ?
see ebay item 330321673083
silver line polisher for £40

have been recomended a makita 9227cb
but looking at 140

i know you only get what you pay for but i am only going to use it once a year or so
 
I have a silverline polisher its very good but a tad heavy. If you only polish once or twice a year its not a problem. If you were doing it for a living, you would want a really light one.
 
I don't know about the Silverline, but generally the Markita gear is good. A lot of professional outfits (car spray painters and detailing businesses) use them on a daily basis and work them hard.
Rupes gear is also very good, top of the line generally.

Recreational boaters will never wear them out, based on a once a year workout.
 
You want to use the polisher to cut back some of the grime and oxidation (or for repairs). Unless the boat condition is really poor, you really wont need too much work, so the Silverline is just fine on a boat your size. Whether thats with polish, or something like 3M fibreglass restorer first, is up to you, but dont get carried away and cut back too much.
I think its easier to use a good quality wax after, by hand, and not with the machine.I found Maguires really good and easy to use, but I suspect its just personal choice- though I have found some of the hard teflon waxes rather hard work to get off again!
 
A product to use when compounds, polishes, waxes get a bit "iffy" to wipe off is to use " Last Touch".

And please use microfibre cloths NOT the stockinette !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I've one in the for sale section that might suit you.

Its unused, the reason being, it wouldn't run from my generator because of the variable speed trigger.

Phill
 
I have found the Silverline just fine after burning out several cheapie orbital polishers. Definitely on the heavy side though.
An advantage of the rotary is that you can polish behind the handrails. If your boat is over 40 feet, would probably go for something lighter.

ItS
 
I think the reason they are built with a bit of weight is generally they are used on cars, and the bonnet, roof and boot areas are quite large flat and hardish to get to. Maybe the weight thing helps keep a bit of down pressure on when you are leaning over.

I am sure Silverline is a good product, its not a line they seem to sell out in the far off colonies. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
We usually recommend an orbital polisher for buffing/ polishing and a rotary sander-polisher for heavier work such as compounding and scratch removal. There's a more detailed comparison on our website, but here's a summary:

Orbital polisher

* Best for polishing and buffing
* Covers large areas very fast
* Won't overheat gel coat or leave 'comet tails'

Sander-polishers

* Multi-purpose machine
* Great for repairs and preparation
* High speed must be used with care
 
Really recommend this from Machine Mart for about £80
060313180.jpg

It's a Clarke CP180 - 1300W Sander & Polisher (230V)
 
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Agree that the weight of them can be a bit tiring. On flat surfaces, it's not too much of a problem but along the hull sides they can get heavy.

Tie a rope on the handle, run it up the side of the boat, around a stanchion or whatever, then tie a 2 litre plastic milk bottle full of water to the other end of the rope. You've now got a lightweight polisher. Might take a bit of fiddling about moving the rope around and getting the best length etc, but I'm sure you get the idea? If you want to get really flash and impress your mates, you can involve pulleys from the top of the mast and stuff and add all sorts of gizmo's but the upshot is the counter balance works and saves your arms
 
I bought one of these and it works fine...it's not as good as a rupes but for £40 it's excellent. The main difference between this and an expensive one is the weight and the torque, the silverline slows down when in contact were as the expensive ones don't. It's not that heavy, I've polished both my own 37ft boat and my dad's 55ft boat and didn't find the weight of it an issue for me. FWIW most of the cheaper polishers up to £80 are the silverline rebadged.
 
Something else to bear in mind (after painful experience) is to use a set of builders trestles with planks at the side of the hull so that you are holding the polisher at about hip height (if you know what I mean and not above head height). After a day of polishing the hull of my boat at the start of the year (40foot) I could barely move my arms !
 
coliholic said:
Agree that the weight of them can be a bit tiring. On flat surfaces, it's not too much of a problem but along the hull sides they can get heavy.

Tie a rope on the handle, run it up the side of the boat, around a stanchion or whatever, then tie a 2 litre plastic milk bottle full of water to the other end of the rope. You've now got a lightweight polisher. Might take a bit of fiddling about moving the rope around and getting the best length etc, but I'm sure you get the idea? If you want to get really flash and impress your mates, you can involve pulleys from the top of the mast and stuff and add all sorts of gizmo's but the upshot is the counter balance works and saves your arms
Click to expand...

I like your thinking... but I feel it only fair to point out to others thinking of trying this that if the polisher catches the rope it will wind-up as quick as a flash and then smash 2 kilos of polisher up the side of your boat, but I do like your thinking..
 
About ten years ago I knocked myself out whilst polishing around a cleat at head-height, you guessed it the polisher caught in the cleat it got ripped out of my hands, swung round knocking me out along with two teeth. Polishers need respect..
 
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