Doing a 21' boat with meduim to hi oxidation. Using Porter cable 7424. What products/pad should I use?
- Thread starter Zee19
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Coastalf350
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- Nov 8, 2013
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I don't think that porter cable with a wool pad will be enough. If able to I would at least get a Flex 3401 with a yellow foam or purple wool foamed pad
- Thread starter
- #3
Right, I dont wanna drop 300 bucks for a polisher when I already own one though. I went to a local marine shop and they gave me some light abrasive 3m scouring pads and a heavy compound to use after with the pc 7424. Does that sound legit?
dcjredline
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- Mar 26, 2012
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Good luck with a PC. You are more brave than I. I'm dreading using my 3401 with yellow pad on a 26' I have coming up this weekend. I do have a rotary and one wool pad but I'm not gonna swirl-o-matic it then have to polish again.
Firehouse Mike
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- Feb 17, 2014
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I have had good luck with my GG6 and cutting pads (lots of them) using Megs M67. It WILL take lots of time but should come out nicely. Work small areas, clean pad after every pass and change pads very often. I'll use 8-12 pads on a boat that size with bad oxidation. Good Luck:dblthumb2:
Mike
Mike
- Thread starter
- #7
So then what are going to do?
when it comes to gelcoat with no pics on severity of oxidation,kinda hard to give the correct answer.
firehouse Mike gave good advice,stick with the da and some pads and patience.
you can go the wool route but then you will have to remove the halograms with the da and that's double the work.
There are several ways to detail boats in bad condition such as dampsanding.
look for the easiest method with good results .
dlc95
Well-known member
- May 18, 2013
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Think about some Lake Country Purple Kompressor pads. Maybe see if AG can get you some 5.5". Unbelievably aggressive foam with tons of bite, big, open cells with thick walls will gnaw away at the oxidation. Of not that, consider the pink LC CCS polishing pad. Again, way bigger pores than the yellow, or orange help the compound bite away at the surface. I'd make sure to use a nice amount of compound, moderate pressure, and speed 6.
Mantilgh
New member
- Dec 6, 2014
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This is just from reading here, and not from experience.
I believe a longer nap wool pad designed for use with a rotary will not be very effective when used with a short throw DA.
I have read of use of the scuff pads followed up by a rotary and a wool pad on gel coat.
You'll probably have to spend some money somewhere. Either lots of foam pads because over working them will destroy them. Lots of microfiber cutting pads for more cut, but the same as above. Or a rotary and some wool pads with the pre scuff.
You may also be a able to scuff then wet sand with your DA(grit?) then compound, or polish, depending on what grit you can get away with. Or multiple sanding steps, followed by compound, and/or polish. High quality sanding disks aren't cheap either.
Maybe a lower quality rotary and good quality compound and pads.
The only way to really know is to go out and test some things out on it. "Test Spot"
- Thread starter
- #12
So I used the scuff pads and wet sanded it with soap and water then went over it with a very heavy 3m compound using the pc7424 and some lake country kompressor pads (the orange ones). The oxidation came out 95% I was shocked how well it came out. I then went over it with a light polish and some orange ccs pads. Then waxed it with some carnuba marine/Rv wax. It came it pretty good I'd definitely recommend the same process to anyone
Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
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Man I've been typing this for years and here goes again....
It's easy to sand, that is it's easy to put scratches into the gel-coat. The tricky part is getting them out.
That's what you're going to do if you use these scuff pads, in simple terms you'll be sanding. Then, in the same way it's going to take you forever to remove heavy oxidation using only a Porter Cable dual action polisher it's going to take you forever to remove your sanding or scuff marks.
I saw this thread pop up but it was either after I left work on Friday or over the weekend.
I cover how to use a Porter Cable an other entry level dual action polishers to restore a severely oxidized gel-coat boat in my how-to book but I stress strongly that it's a huge undertaking and the right way to do it is either by,
Machine sanding followed by using a rotary buffer to compound out your sanding marks.
Machine compounding using an aggressive compound and a wool pad on a rotary buffer.
I'd have to check my book, How to detail boats with Marine 31 to see exactly what I recommended for trying to do this type of work with only a PC but regardless it's an uphill job all the way.
Without a doubt, the most in-depth book I've ever written...
BOOK: How To Detail Boats With Marine 31 by Mike Phillips
