Topside Paint or Wet Sand & Buff?

[onlinelee]

Hi Friends,
would be super to get some feed back from members who have been there and got the T-Shirt on this subject

My 36' 2003 dark blue GelCoat hull is starting to look very tired. In the spring my boatyard spent a day just buffing out some minor scratches, then went over the whole hull machine buffing, then after applied a good U/V wax. But Im still not happy!!

I have done some roll and tip painting before in ideal conditions and achieved a super gloss and crap free finish. So I am considering painting my boat, however, my port is not ideal as its a working fishing port along with gypsum being loaded into container ships nearby creating loads of dust, so this is kind of my final solution, but maybe in another marina!!

Im thinking my best initial solution would be spending several days wet sanding, something the boatyard guy did not do. I would hope that I can achieve a uniform matt / satin finish that will then buff to new, or as near to new, as a 2003 boat could be.

Comments from members on this subject would be most welcome.

 

[HMT2]

I painted my topsides (deck, coach roof, cockpit) with single part polyurethane paint, by rolling and tipping. I got great results. I did take a two week vacation to do it. I used Brightside from Interlux. It was easy to use and even easier to re-paint or touch up five years later.

 

[Apex]

worth trying the polish first. is the current finish gelcoat?

 

[sailnoproblem]

You can try the 3M compound sold at WM. I don't know if there is one by you. If you do try the compound use a machine with a wool pad, clean the pad several times by running the pad against a paint mixing stick. (be careful)
I had good results. You can see in my albums.
Just note it will not remove deep scratches. Then apply several coats of a good paste wax.
On another note I will be painting my topside this spring with the roll and tip method. After all she is a 1970 craft.

 

[onlinelee]

worth trying the polish first. is the current finish gelcoat?

Its gelcoat, yes. After the last guys efforts Im convinced polishing alone is not man enough for the job, hence I feel going a stage further and wet sanding can only get it as good as it gets - assuming I do it right that is!!

 

[onlinelee]

You can try the 3M compound sold at WM. I don't know if there is one by you.

LOL, I guess by WM you mean Wall Mart - They never made it to Spain as far as Im aware However, I can by 3M rubbing compound here.
Im kind of past the compound stage because its been done this way earlier this year and Im still not happy, Im hoping for some more feedback on wet sanding as a final solution and then finish with buffing.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

First I am not sure West Marine has a store in his area being in Spain. Secondly can you define whether it is the deck or hull you are speaking about? The best compound used was Finese IT by 3 M Corporation in the paste, not liquid going over back and forth with a buffer at low speed no more than 1000 RPM and of course not stopping in one area or pushing down real hard because you could burn the gel coat. Please advise.
Also can you take a photo or two and post them so we can see and give better advice. Thanks

 

[onlinelee]

First I am not sure West Marine has a store in his area being in Spain.

LOL, I thought that was Wall Mart!!! No, don't have them either, this side of the pond Im referring to the hull. Yes, I will post a photo, but Im sure it won't have sufficient detail, but will try. Thanking you in advance.

 

[sailnoproblem]

Sorry I meant West Marine. However it is 3M High Gloss Marine Gelcoat Compound. It is a paste. It comes in a gallon can which is white with purple label. They might sell smaller amounts I don't know. This product is used by fiberglass repair shops that can bring up the original gloss finish look.
Anyway it worked great for me.

 

[onlinelee]

[QUOTE Also can you take a photo or two and post them so we can see and give better advice. Thanks[/QUOTE]
Dave, you are going to look at this and say Im nuts!! What I need to do is take some high resolution images, close up and can't do that at the moment.

 

[sailnoproblem]

Sorry when I said topside I did mean the hull. Damn these nautical terms.

 

[onlinelee]

Sorry I meant West Marine. However it is 3M High Gloss Marine Gelcoat Compound. It is a paste. It comes in a gallon can which is white with purple label. They might sell smaller amounts I don't know. This product is used by fiberglass repair shops that can bring up the original gloss finish look.
Anyway it worked great for me.

No problem, it made me laugh though, don't have either in Spain. Your Gelcoat is that much lighter than mine, it shows up everything!! Right after the yard polished it and before it went in the water I was not happy.

 

[onlinelee]

Sorry when I said topside I did mean the hull. Damn these nautical terms.

Here we use the term topside for anything above the waterline

 

[Ken Cross]

When on the hard for a bottom job our chalky 30 foot 1989 Hunter took 2 days to wet sand and then polish. I used 800 grit then 1,000 grit before I compounded

it. See the photo. This was before I put wax on her.

Follow Main Sail's technique. Here is a link:
https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/tips-for-a-great-buff-wax.117266/

You may as well make it look new.

Ken

 

[onlinelee]

When on the hard for a bottom job our chalky 30 foot 1989 Hunter took 2 days to wet sand and then polish. I used 800 grit then 1,000 grit before I compoundedView attachment 143130 it. See the photo. This was before I put wax on her.

Follow Main Sail's technique. Here is a link:
https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/tips-for-a-great-buff-wax.117266/

You may as well make it look new.

Ken

Ken, thats very kind, were you totally happy with your efforts? You used a rotary sander or hand sanded?

 

[JRacer]

I use Aqua-buff 1000 and 2000 compounds. You can Google it to find out where it might be available to you. Have had good results using a DA (dual action -Porter-Cable 7424 XP) buffer and the foam pads from Autogeek. See www.autogeek.net (Detailing How-To) for some videos on technique and the various foam and wool pads available. You may want to try using the 1000 compound on a small area followed by the 2000 to see if it will bring out the surface without having to resort to sanding. The 1000 is pretty gritty stuff.

 

[DayDreamer41]

There is a great deal of information thanks to Mainesail on making that hull shine like new, the results are fantastic, the effort is worth it.
https://forums.sailboatowners.com//index.php?threads/tips-for-a-great-buff-wax.117266/

 

[Joe]

The link daydreamer posted above has been the gold standard on this forum for years. Sounds like the ticket.

 

[Ken Cross]

Ken, thats very kind, were you totally happy with your efforts? You used a rotary sander or hand sanded?

Hand sanded usung a kitchen sponge for a sanding block. Machine compound then hand wax. I'm not totally happy because I need to do the topside and haven't done it yet.

Ken

 

[Ken Cross]

Hand sanded using a kitchen sponge for a sanding block. Machine compound then hand wax. I'm not totally happy because I need to do the topside and haven't done it yet.

Ken