T CUT

[funinthesun]

Hi,

Is there any reason not to use T CUT on the coloured band round the top sides of the hull? I have a few scratches in the pigment and thought this would be ok. Any suggestions?

 

[Piers]

Noooooooooooo to T-cut. It's an abrasive which will damage the surface, which in turn will attract dirt. Use a proper polishing compound such as 3M fibre glass restorer. It will come up 'perfick' as they say.

 

[Refueler]

I use T-Cut ... why ? All polishes no matter what they say are abrasive to some degree otherwise they wouldn't work. But because it is stronger abrasive than any polish - don't use too often.

T-Cut's nearest relative is Bluebell or Brasso.

One point - make sure you remove all T-Cut from the area and polish over with finishing polish. T-Cut can go yellow with sea-water / atmosphere over time. Second it removes all protection you may have there from polish - leaving surface susceptible to crud easily.

 

[FWB]

Farecla will restore your gelcoat to as new.
Mind you I got fed up of constantly polishing my black hull and had it Awlgripped instead /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[lw395]

For the deeper scratches, you may need something a little coarser than tcut, have a look at the farecla website. T cut is good, it is an abrasive as is the 3m product mentioned, so eventually it will wear away the gelcoat. Depending on the thickness of the gel, you have to decide which scratches to fill with gel and which ones to polish out. Some racing dinghies have very thin gel coats!
The point about lots of wax afterward is absolutely right.
Only timr you may have problems is with a painted on band, which can get smeared into scratches in the adjacent white, so try a small area first. If in doubt, mask off the line with tape, polish the white with tcut, then swap over, I've seen pro's do this, it might have been because coloured wax was used on the blue areas?

 

[bazobeleza]

for deep scratches use 400grade wet and dry, very carefully, then 1200 wet and dry then a macine applied cutting compound such as Farecala available in 1200 and 2000 grade, finally finish with a mop and good polish but apply at least 3 coats

 

[charles_reed]

Probably a bad idea to use T-cut on a boat.

What you should do is dependant on whether the stripe is stuck-on vinyl (most probable) or moulded in.

If a vinyl stripe T-cut definitely a no-no, after thorough cleaning with a detergent use a boat-polish.

 

[fastjedi]

As mensioned above, There is a scale of abrasives from course sandpaper through to polish and can often be used in sequence to restore the surface, sometimes after the application of a gel coat repair.

Providing your boat has a decent thickness of gel coat , scratches can often be removed with fine wet n dry, lubricated with T Cut or equiv, followed by T Cut on a rag, followed by a good hard rub with polish.

Look down the edge of the hull in good light to check the area you have treated is at least as shinny as the original. If not, it needs more elbow grease! The trick is knowing when a scratch is too deep to address in this way / you are attacking the surface to a point where there is a danger of going through the gel coat.

 

[tabernacleman]

Polytrol on the coloured bits