37 year old fiberglass boat brought back to life

[KMHAWAIIDH]

Awesome turnout!

 

[imported_smprince1]

Wow, epic response, thanks! Couple follow up bits...



- The areas where you used 1500... did you start with rougher grits, and then work up to 1500? Or just start and finish with the 1500?

Those areas other than where the decals were I only used 1500.

- You mentioned the gel coat can take a lot of aggression. At what point, with persistent wet sanding and/or compounding, are you afraid of going straight through the gelcoat, or making it too thin?

All the time :lol

I do know that gel coat is both much thicker and much harder than auto paint though.

- Interesting how you applied the compound... I was squirting the stuff onto a MF applicator, spreading it around a 2ft sq area, then compounding. Maybe I will try putting it directly onto the pad first. I will also try to spur the pad more often, or use new pads more often.

I don't think that makes much difference in the result whether you apply to the pad or apply to the hull. That's just what works for me and is easier. I forgot to mention that I run at a much slower speed to spread the compound before stepping up to full speed.

- My polisher is a Milwaukee 5460-6, which is 11amps, but maxes out at 1750RPM. Do you think that's fast enough to do the job?

Can't say for sure .... I found myself going above 2000. I would think that at 1750 you'd still get decent results, maybe just take longer. 1750 rpm still generates fairly high pad surface speed.

- I'm beginning to agree that the differently faded areas may just be too deep to restore properly. It is funny, though, that I was able to restore the areas above the rubrail to near perfection. I'll keep working!

 

[cwcad]

Last thursday a friend of mine was asking me what to do on a gel coat surface to restore the shine. It is truly providence that your thread appeared. Thank you for the information and the pictures. You truly did a fine job restoring the paint on this boat.