Gelcoat repair

[evil0ne]

As some know, my boat gets a lot of the Las Vegas sunshine and as such the gelcoat and graphics have taken quite a beating over the last few years. The gas has leaked out of the vent while in storage ruining some of the graphics on the left side and the desert sun has oxidized the rear and baked the rear graphics. So far I've stripped the rear and port side graphics and will be tackling the starboard tomorrow. The tige lettering from the sided came off intact and I might use them in the garage and I might have an extra set if anyone else wants to do something similar. Anyway, work in progress as I plan to use the Meguiar's products to restore the color and shine.

[evil0ne]

cont'd

[whitlock87]

Do you tow with your cover on?
The one pic looks as if the buckle was rubbing the side.

I had some small scratches that I need to get rid of, (gas can on swim deck at Powel. Bad idea, but seam good at the time)
What I did was first wet sand it with 300 grit, then 600 grit, then I used 800. (I want 1200, but could not find it)
I then used a high speed polisher and some polishing compound. Came out looking like new with I nice mirror shine.
Came out so good, that I used the polishing compound on the whole boat. (It was much easer then I thought it would be.)

[rcaroll]

Quite a big job ahead of you..Good Luck...I would also suggest the use of Babe's Boat bright. I use it everytime I pull the boat out of the water and I have no water spots. (BTW my boat is black and red)

[mcd]

I've had luck with light wet sanding. Test in a spot that isn't obvious. The finer the grit the better. I used 1000. 3M finesse it is also a good rubbing compound. Remove as much hardware as possible. Like your lifting rings on the transom. It's a lot easier removing them than trying to work around them. Check with a local canvas shop. They can put a padded wrap around your buckles to eliminate the scratches.

Good Luck. It's not an easy job, but it' worth it when you're done.

[TeamAllen]

Wow! I am suprised at the difference, on the Transom, where the sticker used to be. You might need some wet sanding in addition to the Meguiars? There might be ridges where the decals were?

Keep the pictures coming!

[NICKYPOO]

Damn! Goin' for it. That's a big task. It'll look nice when your done though. That plus the new FAE and it will feel like a new boat.

[David Baker]

how to polish/repair

I learned a lot about gel coat polishing and repair from these posts on Wakeworld. I used similar Meguires products and they work well.

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/m...21/282492.html

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/m...83/674757.html

[brody66]

wow those post on ww are really informative and amazing, cant imagine how much time that took to wet sand and buff the whole boat

[evil0ne]

I tried the Meguair's 91 on the back with mixed results. I then switched to wetsanding, rubbing compound, polish, wax and it looks 100x better. Not perfect but not too bad with the limited time I had tonight. I'll try and snap a pic in the AM.

[evil0ne]

Here are the after pictures for the back. I'm not really getting the results I was looking for but I guess it is better then what it was. It sure is smooth now though.

[evil0ne]

Well it didn't come out 100% but from a distance I think it looks a lot better. Sorry for the iPhone picture but that's all I had at the time.