Gelcoat is boring
- Thread starter KKYS
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ShineTimeDetail
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- Sep 26, 2010
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I have my first RV wed....the one side is nasty oxidized. What kind of compounding and what do you follow it up with?
A-train
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- May 17, 2011
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Simple enough. Thanks!
Mike Phillips
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- Dec 5, 2022
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And if you want to make buffing oxidized gel-coat as easy on you as possible, clean your wool pad after every section. It add a little time to the overall process but abrading each new section will be easier and your pad and compound will work more effectively and from my experience, the residue wipes off easier when it's not all mixed up with the gunk on the pad from the last section.
If you buff out a lot of gel-coat boats, motorhomes or anything that's oxidized a lot, as in you do this for a living, the really do yourself a favor and get a pad washer like the System 2000 unit from Lake Country and for dang sure have a spur.
On Autogeek.net
Autogeek System 2000 Pad Washer for Rotary Polishers
Detailer's Polishing Pad Rejuvenator
Lake Country Wool Pad Spur
:xyxthumbs:
ShineTimeDetail
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- Sep 26, 2010
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I used megs boat oxidation remover and it didn't work well at all.
Mike Phillips
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- Dec 5, 2022
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Oh yeah...
Not all gel-coat is boring to buff out... I was stuck buffing this out for 20 years... the first time took a lot of work because it had years of old wax built-up on the hull that had trapped dirt and oxidation under it. In fact there was what looked like a black cloud in the orange gel-coat. The first time I buffed this out after buffing out just a section you could instantly see the difference as the side that was compounded was a bright orange and the side that wasn't compounded was a blackish orange.
After the first time of doing the real aggressive cutting step I still had to stay on top of of it for the rest of the time I owned it because the pigments in the gel-coat were coming close to the point of no return.
Note the stereo bolted to the passenger's side head on the engine, (just behind the passenger seat) and if
you look you can see a 76 Gas Station Ball on the tip of the stereo antenna behind the Indy Champ air scoop.
This is me racing it on Dexter Reservoir in Oregon...
I kept this one up for my best friend Eric too, he can weld and turn wrenches but didn't really care about maintaining a show boat finish...
This my friends is a Sanger, Bubble Deck, Runner Bottom V-Drive Drag Boat.
Now that's the kind of gel-coat I like buffing and driving!
Not all gel-coat is boring to buff out... I was stuck buffing this out for 20 years... the first time took a lot of work because it had years of old wax built-up on the hull that had trapped dirt and oxidation under it. In fact there was what looked like a black cloud in the orange gel-coat. The first time I buffed this out after buffing out just a section you could instantly see the difference as the side that was compounded was a bright orange and the side that wasn't compounded was a blackish orange.
After the first time of doing the real aggressive cutting step I still had to stay on top of of it for the rest of the time I owned it because the pigments in the gel-coat were coming close to the point of no return.
Note the stereo bolted to the passenger's side head on the engine, (just behind the passenger seat) and if
you look you can see a 76 Gas Station Ball on the tip of the stereo antenna behind the Indy Champ air scoop.
This is me racing it on Dexter Reservoir in Oregon...
I kept this one up for my best friend Eric too, he can weld and turn wrenches but didn't really care about maintaining a show boat finish...
This my friends is a Sanger, Bubble Deck, Runner Bottom V-Drive Drag Boat.
Now that's the kind of gel-coat I like buffing and driving!
ShineTimeDetail
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- Sep 26, 2010
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Jeezus! How tall is that truck!
M-49 (Oxidation Remover) is a pretty light cut product. Look at M-67 (One Step) which is more of a 'medium cut' and/or M-91 (Power Cut) which is a truly heavy cut compound.
Bill
ShineTimeDetail
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- Sep 26, 2010
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Megs is like 30 bucks and duragloss is 12. Is there a huge difference? Is power cut much different than 105
Mike Phillips
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- Dec 5, 2022
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I have the other half of the picture at home but it's sitting on either 40" Swampers. That truck actually became this truck and my friend Eric still owns it today, in fact last year he went throught and rebuilt it with his two boys...
This is Eric's truck, I helped Eric build this literally from the ground up as we started with 4" square stock pipe and welded up a custom frame. This was back in 1982 and just this year Eric and his two boys completely rebuilt and repainted this truck. Eric lives on 10 acres of forest land and when we get to Oregon my 10-year old son Rand is going to get to take this baby out into the field and drive it around. (Sitting in Dad's lap of course).
Believe it or not, this is street legal in Oregon, I should know I've drove it around for years when I lived there.
That's Eric grabbing the door handle to give perspective as to how tall the truck is, Eric is about 5' 11"
Okay, now back to gel-coats...
ShineTimeDetail
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- Sep 26, 2010
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- Thread starter
- #14
Hi Mike :
Another thing a guy can do for real chalky gelcoat, is prep the surface.
Something like a Sia 6120 Siavlies Ultra Fine Nonwoven disc cleans up the
clutter of dead gelcoat prior to compounding. It is an extra step, but its quick and
allows the compounds and wool pads to perform better.
Steve
ShineTimeDetail
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- Sep 26, 2010
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What would polish would you finish with for a compound?
- Thread starter
- #16
None, if I was compounding with Buff Magic (Pink) or 3M Imperial Compound.
My sons love PoorBoys SSR 2.5 polish for the vessals that need more than
an abrasive AIO but less than a compound.
I know this may seem harsh if you come from the clearcoat world, but it's not in
the modern gelcoat world.
ShineTimeDetail
New member
- Sep 26, 2010
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I cut with this today Norton Liquid Ice Polishing Compound Quart and it cut the super heavy oxidation today but finished horribly! I tried to finish with a lighter polish and a foam pad but is still have bad holograms. How do you finish without holograms. I'm doing a white RV
Rsurfer
Well-known member
- Jan 26, 2007
- 14,159
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You were pretty young starting out.
Oh yeah...
This is me racing it on Dexter Reservoir in Oregon...
- Thread starter
- #20
We never have problems with holograms in marine gelcoat.
I would like to believe all gelcoat is the same, but it's not.
We find that since boat builders use differant maufactures of polyester/resins/pigmants, they
also finish out a little differant. A Bayliner boat will need less agression than say a Grady White.
We don't have enough experance with RV's to give any advise.