Narrowboat polishing

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Nbpolish

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Hi all,

New to the forum as a member but watched YouTube and frequented this forum for a while, hope I'm putting this in the right place. This is a great place for information and I love what you've created here so I'm hoping I can get some help

I live on a narrowboat in the UK and have recently polished my boat and a few friends ones also, this has led to people now wanting to pay me to do theirs.

The paint on these boats is traditionally coach painted with 3-4 layers of primer followed by undercoat and a top coat often applied via brush or roller and often have coach lines and sign writing on them.

My question is as follows really, what would you recommend for heavily oxidised paint such as this and something more maintenance based.

I currently wash the boat down and apply a colour restorer with a DeWalt Rotary from a company called bullet polish (this is sold by a reputable chandler here) followed by a carnauba wax spray.

As I'm going to be receiving money for this service soon I obviously want to do this job to the best of my ability and make sure I'm using safe products, I am happy to continue with the current process I'm using but it'd be great to hear from other people's experiences and opinions, and if there are better products out there as it can be quite daunting the amount of products available.

Thanks in advance,

Stephen.
 
Nbpolish said:
Hi all,

New to the forum as a member but watched YouTube and frequented this forum for a while, hope I'm putting this in the right place. This is a great place for information and I love what you've created here so I'm hoping I can get some help

I live on a narrowboat in the UK and have recently polished my boat and a few friends ones also, this has led to people now wanting to pay me to do theirs.
Click to expand...

That's how it always starts out...

You polish your boat, (or car)
Your friends see your boat (or car)

Next, how much to polish my boat?




Nbpolish said:
The paint on these boats is traditionally coach painted with 3-4 layers of primer followed by undercoat and a top coat often applied via brush or roller and often have coach lines and sign writing on them.
Click to expand...

I had to do a Skynet search to see what you're talking about. Is this a Narrowboat?

NarrowBoat_02.jpg



I don't know.... looks like of narrow to me? :bolt:



Nbpolish said:
My question is as follows really, what would you recommend for heavily oxidised paint such as this and something more maintenance based.

I currently wash the boat down and apply a colour restorer with a DeWalt Rotary from a company called bullet polish (this is sold by a reputable chandler here) followed by a carnauba wax spray.

As I'm going to be receiving money for this service soon I obviously want to do this job to the best of my ability and make sure I'm using safe products, I am happy to continue with the current process I'm using but it'd be great to hear from other people's experiences and opinions, and if there are better products out there as it can be quite daunting the amount of products available.

Thanks in advance,

Stephen.
Click to expand...


I'm a huge fan of rotary buffers, even shared my first rotary buffer in this thread,


My original Makita 9207 SPC Variable Speed Rotary Polisher - Mike Phillips

Makita_9207_SPC_000.JPG




That said, I'm a huge proponent of starting with a rotary for heavy cutting but not for the finishing step and that's because it's my experience and opinion that the rotary buffer instills a scratch-pattern called HOLOGRAMS into whatever it is you're buffing. Even if you use the softest pad on Planet Earth the the best ultra fine cut finishing polish - the holograms are there it's just they can be so fine or miniature that the human eye cannot see them.

Don't matter to me if others want to do this or don't agree with me that's just my take and I wanted to put that out there.


Back to your questions...

Being that you're in the U.K. somewhere? You do have a lot of options for compounds, polishes and all-in-one products. Also for pads and tools.

SONAX has a new compound out that's supposed to offer really aggressive cutting while still finishing out with good gloss.

Sonax Ultimate Cut 6+

sonax-ultimate-cut-6-plus-5.jpg



The store page for this product states it can remove down to a #1000 grit sanding mark. That's pretty aggressive so it should remove oxidation fast via rotary polisher or orbital polisher.


After that - you can get the BLACKFIRE One Step at MOTORGEEK in the U.K. - I recommend getting a quart - best bang for the buck but on their website they only show the 16 ounce bottle in stock.


BLACKFIRE One Step


Here's the deal, you can use the BF One Step with ANY brand of orbital polisher and a foam pad and it should remove the holograms after first cutting with the rotary.

Here's something that should work,

Poorboy's World Dual Action Polishing Machine 900W


THEN - in the future - if you stay on top of the boat and don't let it get severely oxidized again you can simply buff the boat out with the BLACKFIRE One Step with the orbital and remove light oxidation and seal the paint in ONE STEP.


Just some food for thought.



:)
 
Hi Mike!

Many thanks for your reply it means a great deal! no need to apologise for a late reply, in fact I found it quite speedy! I'm sure its been hectic and hope everyone at auto geek is keeping well.

I've been asked to do a few cars also, very excited at the prospect of where this may lead.

ha yes that is indeed a Narrowboat, they come in all different styles however the width of them all tend to be around 6 foot ten inches, this is to allow the boats to enter locks which then means you can go up/down on the waterways, quite scary when you first do it! they also vary in length from 20 ft's to some that are 90ft!, they used to be a way of transporting goods (pulled by horse) around the uk before trains took over: they're now used for holidays and a fair number of people live aboard.

View attachment 70262

Currently in the U.K on a canal known as the Trent and Mersey after the rivers that feed it - joys of the modern age however and can get anything delivered here also.

A friend actually bought me the Dewalt rotary after polishing his boat for a payment, one thing I was unsure on was if rotary or DA was the way to go, but pairing them up to get the work done seems a great idea. Rotary for the grunt work and da for that finesse.

This is exactly the information I was looking for, I shall add a DA to my kit as holograms was one thing I was worried about from the rotary.

Once Again thanks a lot for the reply.

Stephen.
 
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