What th #%@(*&^%@$&^ do they put in this stuff?

[Roger Long]

I buffed my topsides with my new Makita yesterday. First with 3M rubbing compound which gave me a nice shine. Then I did it again with 3M Finesse It using the finer of the pads that came with the Makita. What? No more shine. I could see that there was something on the surface so I rubbed and rubbed. More work than the buffing. Still no shine.

I went back and read through MaineSail's magnum opus again and spotted the part I missed about the residue from the Finesse It. Stopped on the way home and bought a Mcguires foam pad. I couldn't find the right head for the 3M ones.

This morning I rubbed off the Finesse It with alcohol as suggested. Way more work than buffing by the time I got enough off to assess my labors of yesterday. I decided I wasn't there yet so I did it again with the foam pad and cleaned each section with alcohol as I did it. Finally, some shine. Even after cleaning each section as I went, it took another total wipe down and there are still streaks of the Finesse.

Splatter didn't seem to be a problem yesterday with the wool pad but, wow, does that foam pad ever throw the stuff around. I went up on the boat to close up and, Holy Shit and shinolla I wiped the brightwork down with alcohol and went home to take a shower.

Driving back, I looked down at my hands and they were splattered! They were clean when I got out of the shower. Got back to the boat and the brightwork was like I had never wiped it down at all. The alcohol doesn't remove the stuff, it just makes it invisible and it reappears as soon as it dries.

I tried to buy Presta last night but Hamilton was out and it was 4:58.

My car is also covered. The parts I wiped down with alcohol also went through the invisible ink cycle. I haven't got time to clean it, it will just be a mystery to the man at the junkyard when I finally retire it.

This stuff is eternal. What do they put in it?

 

[Ross]

And the person that recommend this stuff? Is he still breathing? Will your alibi hold up in court?

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

how much do you charge per hour Roger? There's someone on our dock who is anal about his shine. You know, one of those guys who spends more time polishing than sailing. We'd like you bring your new buffer and work on it.

 

[thereisabelle]

mabee the same stuff they put in cigaretts to make them go out...jb

 

[sailingdog]

Roger, thanks for the laugh... Maine Sail or Tim probably spiked your Finesse It...

 

[Tim R.]

Welcome to the club Roger! I will be doing some touch up polishing on my boat tomorrow with Finesse it.

Does Hamiltons really carry Presta now? I know broadway paint does along with the industrial supply place over on Riverside.

Neither of them sell the Presta gelcoat compound though. That is the best compound I have used so far.

 

[Roger Long]

Does Hamiltons really carry Presta now?

I didn't see it or I would have been using it after my first day's experience.

It's worth following MaineSails instructions to the letter. When he says, "Put cardboard along the rails".....

GoJo did get most of the splatters off my car. Are these specific to Finesse It or will Presta do the same thing?

 

[Maine Sail]

I didn't see it or I would have been using it after my first day's experience.

It's worth following MaineSails instructions to the letter. When he says, "Put cardboard along the rails".....

GoJo did get most of the splatters off my car. Are these specific to Finesse It or will Presta do the same thing?

Roger,

Both Finesse It and Presta are water based. Some water and a microfiber rag should clean the sling.

It sounds to me like you may have the wrong pad/polish combination. The Finesse It should certainly make it more shiny not less. The Makita pads are fairly poor quality and also quite aggressive. NAPA should have the 3M 05713 yellow wool pad. If you had that much sling you were using too much compound or the foam pad was just not very good at retaining the compound. Foam pads, like wool, have many grades. The foam may have also been too aggressive.

I'll throw a 05713 pad in my car, I have a brand new one sitting on my desk. What yard is your boat at? I need to be at a medical convention in Portland all day but if I can swing by I'll drop the pad under your boat on the keel blocks..

Oh and like the compound don't do too much Finesse It at a time and wipe the residue off before it has a chance to fully dry. When you get more proficient with the buffer you can buff it nearly dry.

I'll be leaving the house around 7:20 but will check on my phone for where your boat is If I don't hear from you before I leave..

 

[Roger Long]

I'll be leaving the house around 7:20 but will check on my phone for where your boat is If I don't hear from you before I leave..

Many thanks for the offer but I've got all the shine now that my arms, joints, and time permit. I'm done for this year. It isn't too bad, I could see my car pretty clearly in it standing to the side. It wasn't too bad once I got the residue off. Like I said though, that was more work than the buffing.

I've got other fish to fry if I'm not going to have my launch date bumped to late June.

 

[CMM]

3m liquid wax

I used the 3m rubbing compound with my buffer followed by hand applied 3m liquid wax. I applied the wax, let it dry to chaulk and than removed it by hand. It left the great shine from the rubbing compound and sealed the finish.

CMM

 

[DeniseO30]

Roger I had a hard time buffing the 3m finess also. really had to lean on the pad. but the 3m heavy cut compound we used first really brought it up shiny. I'm dazzeled by the shine on my 1982 gel coat.

 

[RichH]

Finese-it is most probably ultra-ground up 'diatomaceoous earth' ( then 'screened' to get mostly ~2000 grit particles) ... fossilized silica shells of ancient diatoms.
The important thing when using Finese-it & also Perfect-it is not to apply too MUCH of it - only small 'quarter sized' dabs on your bonnet. If you 'slather it' on, it will obviously 'dry' as you experienced .... probably drying into a 'natural silica CEMENT' .

 

[Bob S]

That's rather strange, I've been following Maine's advise 3 years now and never had a problem. In fact all I have to do is polish with Feneese it II and wax. I use a foam pad and polish it dry? I didn't realize you should stop before it dries. When I buff it dry it looks like it's already waxed. I do 2' square areas at a time. Shake the bottle well before using. When Maine first posted his technique he recommended 3M products. I bought Presta this year but still have some 3M products left that I will use up before trying Presta.

I use Lake Country buffing pads

http://www.autogeek.net/foam-polishing-pads.html?gclid=CIDMleXTrqECFYeV7Qod8y_1rw

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Roger, you are not alone ...

I also found Finesse It very hard to work with. The first 2 years I started with the rubbing compound and got a shine that I was really proud of. I followed up with Finesse It using the 3M yellow wool pad that MS specifies and the shine diminished significantly. I also wasn't happy that the wax seemed to do a good job at collecting grime.

After cleaning this spring, I decided I didn't need the rubbing compound anymore but I did work a lot harder with the Finesse It. If I used small dabs, I found that it dried too quickly, if I used larger amounts on the pad I found it would leave too much residue. I tried applying some with a microfiber pad ahead of applying it with the buffer pad. I did a lot of experimenting and I experimented with the speed settings as well and generally found that I had to buff it virtually dry to get any kind of shine. It bothered me because I am led to believe that it shouldn't be buffed dry. I also did it all in small 2' x 2' increments, trying to find the right process. In the end, I am not completely happy.

I find that either it is just too much work, or the process is too tricky to get right. I am not that fussy about having a brilliant shine, and I don't need to work so hard and get overly aggrevated ... life is short enough. Besides that, my stern collects grime everytime I start up chitty chitty bang bang and it is no longer coming off when wipe it down with water immediately afterwards.

To make a long story short ... I'm ready to try something different.

 

[dscribner]

You can tell that Roger is a sailor because he spelled #%@(*&^%@$&^ correctly. It is the same dialect I used when my son hit the huge, VW bug sized, no-way-you -can-miss-it, federal offense to mess with, bright orange buoy off or Camp Ellis. It was hidden behind the genoa and we were clueless. Oh well!

Riddle me this, how can you tell if it's gelcoat you're messing with and not paint? It may sound like a stupid question, but the stern is obviously painted. That part I get. The sides are smooth with a few scratches and a few . . . blotches that are dinner plate sized and almost imperceptible. But there are no brush strokes or transitions to paint that I can see.

 

[RichH]

That's rather strange, I've been following Maine's advise 3 years now and never had a problem. In fact all I have to do is polish with Feneese it II and wax. I use a foam pad and polish it dry? I didn't realize you should stop before it dries. When I buff it dry it looks like it's already waxed. I do 2' square areas at a time. Shake the bottle well before using. When Maine first posted his technique he recommended 3M products. I bought Presta this year but still have some 3M products left that I will use up before trying Presta.

I use Lake Country buffing pads

http://www.autogeek.net/foam-polishing-pads.html?gclid=CIDMleXTrqECFYeV7Qod8y_1rw

Buffing compounds that use diatomaceous earth (DE) are know as 'glazing' compounds in which the buffing action puts the small DE particles into and aligned ON the surface ... the 'glass like' structures becoming aligned IN/ON is what gives the 'sheen' (as well as flattening the surface of the base material). This 'glazing' (filling in the surface irregularities with 'aligned' DE particles) technique is centuries old and used to be a very basic step in the prep. prior to varnishing, lacquering, etc.

 

[Tim R.]

Scott you need Presta. It is great stuff. Try using their gelcoat compound and their white wool pad. It is simply amazing.

And BTW, it is ok to buff dry if you know how to do it because you could burn the finish. So experiment and you will figure it out.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Thanks for the tip, Tim ...

I'll give it a try next year. We have some great early spring weather and the sailing already has been 100% better than last years ... considering we couldn't even launch until June last year and then we had 2 months of rain. How is the search going?

 

[Tim R.]

Slow. I am working to commissioning the old boat and renovate the house. The house is pretty much done and the boat gets launched Tue. I hope to go look at more boats in a couple of weeks.

Today I am going over the entire hull with Finesse-It to polish some spots the painter missed. Transom and port side done. Got to go out and start the other half.