First boat detail

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SENC

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Hey guys

I am new here and just wanted to leave a little feedback and ask a few questions. I purchased the dewalt/Marine 31 kit from the site and decided to test it out on my buddies 1991 Larson. I don't think the boat has ever even been waxed. I was happy overall with the products. I still have a lot to learn though. There were a few spots near the keel I would like to have hit better but I ran out of compound. No big deal since this was just a free detail for me to learn by. I only did the outside hull since I just wanted to test my new toy. I'll try to post some pictures.

A few questions maybe someone can help me with.

1. When it comes to metal such as aluminum/stainless, what is a good product to polish it with? I have used never dull in the past but I was wondering if it wouldn't be much faster with my buffer for areas like the aluminum cap this boat had.

2. How do guys clean vinyl seats and such? I have used a weak mix of bleach in the past to clean fish blood and such but I know bleach can destroy threads over time.

3. Do you ever polish boat windsheilds to restore them or remove any haze? If so what works for this?

Thanks for any feedback you guys provide. Like I said this is new to me so I'll probably have several more questions. Wes
 
Nice results Wes!

1- Sure, you can use a metal polish with a machine. I don't have much experience with it, but hope to soon. There was just a Semi truck thread yesterday where they did so. Some metal polishes may be better suited for this.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/94394-semi-detail-e-w-auto-detailing.html

2- Vinyl could probably be cleaned with most APCs in a safe dilution. I believe you are right about bleach not be good for the stitching and might not be good for the vinyl either. Enzyme type cleaners are good for the blood and guts type of stuff. Many protect it with 303 Aerospace.

3- I have heard good things about Plexus for this.
Plexus is the most effective plastic polish available for cleaning, protecting,and polishing all kinds of plastic. plexus,plexus plastic

Edit: not really sure why I answered this since I have little to no experience with them. I'm sure others with more experience will chime in.

Mostly just wanted to great job.

What products did you use or came in the kit?
 
1. You could try mothers metal polish or another type of creamy polish, but I also typically use Never Dull.
2. I would use a APC 1:10 for the vinyl seats.
3. I always use a glass polishing microfiber towel on glass with Stoners Invisible glass. You can also use a clay bar and compound on glass (won't improve scratches) to smooth it out and remove any contaminants. There's also dedicated glass polish and glass polishing pads, but they tend to have mixed reviews as glass polishing is much harder than paint polishing.

P.S. the boat looks so much better than before. Great job restoring the look to this boat!
 
Thanks guys for the feedback and answers. That boat was a lot of work. I ended up with around 7 hours in it. He is trying to sell it so it worked out great for both of us. I got an opportunity to get my feet wet and he will probably get a little more $ for it now. I have another buddy that wants his done now as well. His is OD Green and has a center console that needs some attention. It will be a little more challenging and I will need to buy a polishing kit to fit a hand drill but I am going to give it a go. Hopefully I can post some results on that one soon. Thanks again for the compliments.
 
Mantilgh said:
Nice results Wes!

1- Sure, you can use a metal polish with a machine. I don't have much experience with it, but hope to soon. There was just a Semi truck thread yesterday where they did so. Some metal polishes may be better suited for this.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/94394-semi-detail-e-w-auto-detailing.html

2- Vinyl could probably be cleaned with most APCs in a safe dilution. I believe you are right about bleach not be good for the stitching and might not be good for the vinyl either. Enzyme type cleaners are good for the blood and guts type of stuff. Many protect it with 303 Aerospace.

3- I have heard good things about Plexus for this.
Plexus is the most effective plastic polish available for cleaning, protecting,and polishing all kinds of plastic. plexus,plexus plastic

Edit: not really sure why I answered this since I have little to no experience with them. I'm sure others with more experience will chime in.

Mostly just wanted to great job.

What products did you use or came in the kit?
Click to expand...

Sorry I just noticed your question at the bottom. The kit came with marine 31 compound, Polish, and liquid wax. The only thing I did not use was the wax it came with. I used Trewax for my final coat. I have always used Trewax brand carnuba on my boat with good results so I stuck with it.
 
Hey guys. I recently finished another project and thought I would post the results.
This boat took a lot of work being the dark OD green that it is. The outside hull was in pretty good shape so I just polished out some of the dock marks and put on a fresh coat of wax. The cap also needed some work but it came out great with a light cutting/polishing pad. As you can see, the console and seat needed some attention. I started by using Mcquires 49 to remove some of the oxidation. I found that while it did remove the haze it still didn't have the cut I needed so I used some of the Marine 31 heavy oxidation remover that I had left over. I followed that up with polish. I found that working around the guages and such was a challenge. I mainly used an application pad for it but was able to hit the top (worst part) with a cutting pad. After I felt I got as much of the oxidation off that I could I then hand/machine polished. I was happy with the overall results. I'm still learning what works best/better.

One thing I can say for sure is that several products will give you the same end result. It just depends on how long and how many steps you want to take to get it there.
Feel free to offer any tips you guys have learned when working in small places!
Thanks
 
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