Help Removing Hard Water Spots on Boat

[malibuboats91]

Hey everyone, I have a 2008 Malibu Response LX that has hard water spots all over it. It has been this way since I bought it new in 2008 and I finally have time to properly fix it. Last year I tried vinegar and it did not work at all. I just bought the Meguiar's Fiberglass Restoration Kit (link below) to hopefully fix this issue. I have a Griots Garage random orbital polisher that I would like to use, but I only have Meguiar's MF pads, Lake Country red and black. Would any of these pads work for the heavy duty oxidation remover or the polish? If not, I'm going to have to do it all by hand because I'm putting my boat in for the summer this weekend. Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[malibuboats91]

Or would you recommend that I do something different?

Here is a picture:

 

[damaged442]

The first issue I see is that you bought a Malibu and not a MasterCraft. (I'm kidding, but I HAD to...)

I've got an 89 MC Tristar 190 that the gel was pretty oxidized when I got her. Initially, I hit it with 3M Gelcoat Restorer and Wax with a Craftsman 7" wax spreader, because it was all that I had at the time, and I knew I wasn't doing it by hand! It was a significant improvement and removed oxidation, but the shine wasn't where I wanted it to be.

Now, I have a PC7424 with 5.5" LC CCS pads. Each spring I hit the boat with Collinite Fiberglass Cleaner (No. 920) (white LC CCS) followed by Collinite Fiberglass Boat Wax (No. 925) (blue LC CCS). She does not look like a 25 year old boat.

It looks like your gelcoat is in good shape with just water spots. Unfortunately, with the black, they are even more noticeable. IMO, I would try the 920/925 combo in a test spot to see if that will work for you. The 920 is very mildly abrasive and should have no issue taking the water spots off and shining everything up again. With the 925, I have yet to find a longer lasting wax for the boat. I do not think you need a heavy duty oxidation remover.

Always liked the Response. The boat has beautiful lines and a great slalom wake. I almost bought one. How bout some pics of the rest of the boat?

I hope to have mine in the water this weekend also!

HIT IT! :dblthumb2:

 

[brondondolon]

CarPro has a product called "spotless" Id try that first since the gel coat looks to be in pretty good condition.

 

[aplusmarine]

Acid wash, with either "mary kate on off", or muriatic acid. I would dilute the latter.

 

[malibuboats91]

Thanks for the replies!! I will look into those products. I was hoping I could get it done before Saturday but if I have to order something I'll just have to do it on my lift.

The first issue I see is that you bought a Malibu and not a MasterCraft. (I'm kidding, but I HAD to...)



I've got an 89 MC Tristar 190 that the gel was pretty oxidized when I got her. Initially, I hit it with 3M Gelcoat Restorer and Wax with a Craftsman 7" wax spreader, because it was all that I had at the time, and I knew I wasn't doing it by hand! It was a significant improvement and removed oxidation, but the shine wasn't where I wanted it to be.



Now, I have a PC7424 with 5.5" LC CCS pads. Each spring I hit the boat with Collinite Fiberglass Cleaner (No. 920) (white LC CCS) followed by Collinite Fiberglass Boat Wax (No. 925) (blue LC CCS). She does not look like a 25 year old boat.



It looks like your gelcoat is in good shape with just water spots. Unfortunately, with the black, they are even more noticeable. IMO, I would try the 920/925 combo in a test spot to see if that will work for you. The 920 is very mildly abrasive and should have no issue taking the water spots off and shining everything up again. With the 925, I have yet to find a longer lasting wax for the boat. I do not think you need a heavy duty oxidation remover.



Always liked the Response. The boat has beautiful lines and a great slalom wake. I almost bought one. How bout some pics of the rest of the boat?



I hope to have mine in the water this weekend also!



HIT IT! :dblthumb2:

Haha MasterCraft is a fine choice also! My buddy has a red/pinkish 89 Tristar and loves it. I've always loved Malibu's so that's what we bought. I'll probably order the 920 and 925 for my boat and use it this season or next. Thank for the help!

Here's a few pics I took tonight after I got it out of storage and washed it.

Any pics of yours?

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

This boat we wetsanded using the Rupes sanding system had deep water spots or water stains and in some places, even after SANDING, compounding and polishing I think I could still see ghosting of the spots?


How to wetsand, cut and buff a gel-coat boat




Water Spot Stains & Oxidation
Not only is the entire hull filled with holograms from the misuse of a rotary buffer, (the normal practice by most boat detailers), the gel-coat is also oxidized and covered with water spot stains.

This is the Rupes Duetto 12mm orbital polisher/sander and Rupes foam backed #3000 grit sanding discs.

g

Compounding

As some of our team moved around the hull wet sanding some of the rest of followed by removing the sanding marks by using a wool pad on Flex PE14 rotary buffers with Marine 31 products.

Then after a lot of polishing and waxing....

So if the "spots" are NOT TOPICAL then recommendations like vinegar and such are not going to work. It's going to require removing some material.

 

[malibuboats91]

So if the "spots" are NOT TOPICAL then recommendations like vinegar and such are not going to work. It's going to require removing some material.

Thanks for the reply! The spots don't seem to be "etched" into the gel coat but vinegar doesn't remove them. When I run my hand across the surface it doesn't really even feel rough. Here's another picture.

 

[damaged442]

I'll make sure I grab a few pics this weekend as I am playing!

 

[GenesisCoupe]

CLR followed by some M205 on a white pad worked well for the super hard water spots. Beats sanding the clear. Just a little bit of CLR did the trick while no yellow, orange, or white pad would.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Thanks for the reply! The spots don't seem to be "etched" into the gel coat but vinegar doesn't remove them.

When I run my hand across the surface it doesn't really even feel rough. Here's another picture.

I have an article that explains how vinegar works. So many people recommend using vinagar and it's really only going to work for very specific water spots.

Using Vinegar to remove water spots


For your boat, looks like machine polishing should work. Then seal with some wax or sealant.


:_

 

[malibuboats91]

I have an article that explains how vinegar works. So many people recommend using vinagar and it's really only going to work for very specific water spots.

Using Vinegar to remove water spots


For your boat, looks like machine polishing should work. Then seal with some wax or sealant.


:_

Mike - thanks for the help!

 

[malibuboats91]

I decided to use the 3 step system from Meguiar's that I bought. It's taking the water spots right off and I guess my boat was a little faded/oxidized. I have only done above the rub strip so far

 

[tncumminsguy]

I have found two methods that work great on boats, one is to spend the time with a Buffer and some meguiars marine heavy oxidation cleaner or while you are washing your boat take a spray bottle with a 15% CLR and degreaser combo and water.

This boat had terrible water spots from not being cleaned for years, it had always been stored inside but I was amazed how oxidized the blue was