1 step pad recommendation for gelcoat with rotary

[Gurge]

looking for some rotary pad recommendations for 1 step clean / polish / wax on marine gelcoat (fishing boats)

i've got the 3m marine restorer & wax on the way, plus a handful of other light duty AIO products if needed.

I already have pretty much the full line of large 3m wool & foam pads available (thanks to taking care of my local kemperle rep). also a large ccs orange & white on hand if necessary

I plan to do a test spot before I go at it. Just seeing what the thoughts are here.

my initial thought would be the 3m superbuff wool but it may be too aggressive? the AG description for the 3m marine restore wax mentions foam pads. in which case i'd be thinking the 3m white compounding foam (egg crate style)

was hoping to get some input from experience. thanks


Edit: done plenty of boats in the past. Mostly with the DA. The rotary work I have done has been a dedicated step for compounding then polishing then waxing. which obviously takes a very long time. I'm comfortable with my pad choices in that department

 

[The Pad Man]

If you are doing a restore wax, I would suggest a white LC pad. It has the cleaning ability you are looking for and is less aggressive than the 3M white pad.

 

[tuscarora dave]

I use the 3M SuperBuff 2+2 on gel coat and can finish pretty nice with it on lighter colors but with darker colors I follow that up with a foam pad.

In my experience with rotary polishing gel coat with foam pads, the Big 7.5" curved LC foam pads CCS 7.5 foam pads, lake country 7.5 inch pads, 7 inch ccs foam pads, ccs pads by lake country, lake country mfg, lake country manufacturing work well as well as the VC pads that LC makes exclusively for Poorboy's World (can't link these here) because the molded plastic backing holds up well to the abuse that gel coat buffing dishes out to the pads. I think the white foam lasts the longest.

 

[Gurge]

thanks for the replies. I've seen in the past that dave likes to talk pads, and someone claiming to be 'the pad man' probably also knows their stuff.

I have a variety of sizes for LC white (8.5, 6.5, 5.5). and a few of the 3m white compounding pads as well. hopefully between those 2 i'll find a happy balance

I really had thought the wool would be the ticket but i was concerned about swirls. although these are mostly white fishing boats. might give it a shot because dave has recommended those superbuff 2+2 pads here as well as a number of times in the past (just need the correct adapter - I only have the quick disconnect adapter like for the edge pads)

if anyone else cares to comment, feel free


BTW - just to add to the discussion, the 3m website description for 'marine restorer and wax' recommends using one of their superbuff wool pads - 05700 05701 05711

 

[tuscarora dave]

If you haven't used the SuperBuff 2+2 yet give it a try, it really isn't as aggressive as a lot of other wool pads so it finishes rather well for a wool pad. It sheds very little to none at all and is very flexible so you can really work it into tighter areas on gel coat.

I'm a bit of a pad junkie. I'm certain I have over 400 pads of differing sizes, styles and brands.