Waxing and polishing, I`m over my head

[tricyclerob]

Dave,
I'm in Fork, right up the road from you. Shoot me a private message amd I'll send you my cell. Maybe I can take a look and give you some pointers. I had pretty good results with mine following MS's article on buffing and polishing with only very minor deviations. Take a look at the thread "Power Buffer Recommendations" just above your post. I posted some photos and some pointers.
rob j

 

[JRacer]

I get all my my cleaning and buffing equipment from autogeek and use the 3M products. www.autogeek.net Check out their site. I use their cutting and buffing pads on my makita and it works really well. Their site has some instructional videos that may help you and you can call them for advise.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Be very careful with the high speed buffer. Friend of mine was buffing his hull with the cover on in the spring. Stray line from cover inadvertently got caught in buffer and one of his fingers. Ripped his finger off at the first joint. Extremely painful and now he has a short finger. His friends had to spend some time wiping the blood off adjacent boats and finding his mangled finger while he went to the hospital.

I use 3M™ Marine High Gloss Gelcoat Compound, 06025. Then Finesse it, then Collinite hand applied. It kept my 30 year old gel coat looking great on my last boat.

Buffing blood into the finish is acceptable. It shows your dedication.

(Seriously, WOW. You don't think about a buffer being that dangerous)..