Row Row Row your boat

I had a client get in touch with me thru Facebook about detailing his boat. As we talked, he had stated that he had in the past applied wax to try and mitigate the oxidation to the boat. He also had stored the boat with a cover, but a storm blew thru and pulled the cover off the boat exposing it. Time got away from him, so he got in touch with me about detailing the boat to bring back the shine. He dropped it off last night so that I could begin the cleaning process to see what I was working with.

This is how she looked when she arrived:



Front: This section actually gets covered by a large cushion, which was removed to get to the cleaning of the area.



Under the front area:


Rear seating area:



Side prior to test spot:



50/50 shot of test spot:





Process so far:

Amazing Roll-Off spray on areas, multiple brushes used to agitate dirt and gunk.

I am still going to get inside and pull off the handles. All the vinyl has some specs of mildew, so I am going to have to pick up a remover, hopefully today.

The test spot was accomplished with a Rupes 15, Megs MF pad and M105, followed by an Uber Orange light cut polishing pad and M205.
The client sort of sprung this one on me this week, so I did not have time to order marine compounds. I am going to grab some wool pads today and see what my rotary will do, but even with the Rupes and this combo, the finish is coming back really well.

HUMP

I almost needed this boat last night..HA! I got to the shop after my main work to continue the polishing process. I stopped by on my lunch break to pick up a couple of wool pads for my rotary. I wanted to see if I could move faster and still get the results. It worked! I got just about the whole top section done in about 1.5 hours. The reason I say I almost needed the boat though was that it started to pour around 5:00pm and I mean pour! Had to close the shop door because it was coming in.
Tonight I will start along the bottom half of the boat and leave the inside for Friday and Saturday.

HUMP

Updated pics!

So the last two days have been polish with wool pad days and it has been working.





Little hard to see here, but I got a selfie reflection









More than likely jumping up on the inside this evening.

HUMP

beamerstrumpet said:

I have never done a boat, but from what I have seen hitting it with wool and a rotary is really the main way to go. Did you happen to see what following it with a DA would look like anywhere on the boat? but gel coat is not paint, so your kicking *ss!

Click to expand...

I did, and I could not visually see any difference. I used Menzerna FG400 with the rotary and wool pad and once it broked down after initial cut, I would easy up on the pressure and just let the pad glide over the surface. It gave me the results I was looking for, and kept the price tag for the customer in the ballpark that he and I had discussed.

HUMP

I did not have the time to take outside pictures, but the client was kind enough to send me some the next day. He was more than pleased with how the boat turned out.







HUMP