Hi Graham,
I've taken the pertinent parts of our conversation and placed them in order below...
Mike I am working on an 2007 nautique. It sits on a boat lift most of the year and get sun mostly on one side, that will be hanging as we are having the cover modified. That side is a bit faded/oxidized. The blue bottom is the worst.
Where should I start? I just received a flex 3401 this week with lake country ccs pads. The orange, white, grey and blue pads. I also got the purple wool pad as well!
What do you have for chemicals?
That is, what do you have for,
- Compounds
- Polishes
- Cleaner/Waxes
- Finishing waxes
Nothing yet . I wanted to wait and see what was recommended first before I dove into it! I have never worked with gelcoat and didn't wanna mess it up!
Okay, so you have the Flex 3401 and 6.5" CCS Foam pads,
Orange foam cutting pad
White foam polishing pad
Gray foam finishing pad
Blue foam waxing pad
If this were my boat here's what I would use.
Marine 31 Captain’s One-Step Compound & Polish
And then test it with the white CCS pad first and if that's not aggressive enough to remove the oxidation and restore a clear, shiny gel-coat surface then try the same product with the orange CCS pad.
Run that Flex 3401 on the 4- 6 speed setting. I like to give people a range but when it's me I buzz that thing all the way up to the 6 speed setting.
There's something to be said and had by using high speeds versus medium speeds when you have a lot of ground to cover or don't want to spend all day doing a job.
The Captains Compound can be used as both a compound and a wax. So after you remove the oxidation you use the same product to polish the gel-coat.
If neither the white or orange foam pads are removing the oxidation fast enough or effectively enough, then you'll want to get a 7.5" wool cutting pad for your Flex 3401.
And "yes" this is one of the
STRONG recommendations I put in the new
Boat Detailing Book. That is if you're going to be buffing on oxidized gel-coat boats you want to get a wool pad for your Flex 3401.
A wool pad on a Flex 3401 plus a great compound or a great one-step cleaner/wax is really the way to go know knock out an oxidized, neglected boat without leaving
HOLOGRAM scratches in the finish like the majority of the boat detailing industry does as their NORMAL procedure.
On that topic, my next boat detailing class is coming up in February.
The class will be held on
Saturday, February 6th and I will cover how to do high speed production work on neglected gel-coat boats as well as how to machine sand gel-coat boats and then compound and polish to perfect.
Here's the link to sign-up for the next boat detailing class for 2016 and this is the
ONLY boat detailing class scheduled for 2016 and the only boat detailing class in the
United States that I know of.
Marine 31 Boat Detailing Class - February 6th, 2016
After you remove the oxidation and restore the gloss then use the blue CCS pad to seal the paint using your Flex 3401 on the 4 speed setting.
and
Marine 31 Gel Coat Carnauba Wax + Sealant
The above is a recipe for success.
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