There are many opinions on this, and I'm not saying that any of them are wrong, but I do disagree with some of what has been said. I have owned over 20 boats over the past 30 years. Most of them required some degree of restoration, so I have tried just about every polishing regime known to man. I am not a flipper, I actually kept and used each of them long term, so I got to see how each method held up over time.
The first thing I disagree with is 220 grit being too aggressive. You don't always need to start that aggressive, but if you have deep scratches or gouges to work out then you certainly do. If you have heavy oxidation, starting at 600 as others have suggested will be a complete waste of your time. Sure, you
might eventually get where you want to be but you'll burn up a lot of sandpaper and elbow grease in the process. Start more aggressive and work your way down.
The next thing I disagree with is the need to go all the way to 1000 - 2000 grit. Although 220 is not too aggressive to start, it is definitely too course to stop at because you can see the sanding marks. IMO, there is no need to sand beyond 600 - 800 grit, especially if you are following up with a compounding and polishing process. The TotalBoat compound you are using (I'm assuming Total Buff ) is roughly 1000 grit by the way, so it will not get out all of the 220 grit marks, but also would be a step backwards if you had wet sanded all the way to 2000 grit. I suggest wet sanding again with 400, then 600, followed by the rubbing compound. Then move to the polish to remove swirl marks left by the compound, and finish with the wax.
The final thing I'm gonna disagree with is Poli-Glow being garbage. As beautiful and satisfying as a quality polish and wax job can be, it's costly, time consuming, very labor intensive and ultimately leaves you disappointed. I have wasted more hours than I even want to know compounding and polishing to a beautiful finish only to see it dull and chalky 3-4 months later. I prefer to spend more time enjoying my boat than I do laboring over it. I've wanted to try Poli-Glow for 20 years, but every time I had myself talked into it, someone's negative comments on the internet would cause me to shy away. After reading about it for so many years, I have come to the conclusion that most Poli-Glow failures are a result of poor preparation and lack of maintenance. When I got my C22 in early 2015 it was heavily oxidized and chalky. After wet sanding to 600 grit I did the preparation steps and applied several coats of Poli-Glow. 6-8 coats took less time and is much easier than a single coat of wax. The results were fantastic and it has held up impeccably for two complete seasons. I just did a deep cleaning and applied several maintenance coats a few days ago. My boat is now in the water and all the people I've seen out compounding every day for the last month are still compounding.
Here are some before/after pics and video of my boat. I love Poli-Glow!
