Novice boat detail

H

Hatchman

New member
Just got a new boat, to me, a '05 Chaparral Signature 260. Condition is good, low hours, rack stored on the bottom of the rack under other boats, so mostly out of the sun. Condition is lightly oxidized hull, carpet and deck is pretty dirty. Lots of mildew in the deck storage boxes, dirty fenders, dirty shore power cord, etc. Luckily the vinyl seats are in great shape and look almost new.



Here is my plan and products, let me know if this will work:



Wash non skid deck and cockpit and compartments with Starbrite non-skid hull cleaner with PTFE, hit the tough spots with Marine Simple Green.

Cockpit carpet - rent a steam cleaner, Resolve carpet cleaner, after dry, coat with Scotchguard.

Boat fenders and shore power cord: Mineral spirits followed by Aerospace 303



For the outer hull:

Wash with West Marine boat soap

Mequiars #67 One-step compound applied with Orange Lake Country low cut pad with Mequiars G110V2 DA.

Polish- TBD? with a white Lake country pad

Sealant - Rejex and/or Ultima (or Nu Finish since I hear it is almost the same formula) with a Blue Lake country pad.



Finish up:

Vinyl- Aerospace 303

Plastic windows, windshield, isenglass: Plexus



Rust spots? Any advice to use on rust spots where old bolts have stained the white gelcoat around them? What to put on the bolts to keep them from getting worse? or just replace them?



Any advice/tips would be appreciated. I think I should have bought a rotary, but I'm afraid I will burn the gelcoat and I've already invested in the Meguiars DA. The #67 can be applied by hand and is very aggressive, so I hope the DA will be fine. Maybe should have gone with 105/205 and a rotary with a wool pad?



Thank you all in advance!
 
Get some good old laundry detergent, warm water and wash the heck out of everything first. Allow the solution to dwell on the gel coat, etc, keep it wet for 10 minutes or so.

Rinse off, then start the buffing process, don't worry about the inside until you got the buffing down, why clean twice?

What works best for removing the rust stains is stuff you don't want to use, it requires knowing how dangerous it is to humans, and some experience with it, so--

Use Iron-X. CLR or something like that, soaking it down, etc as per their instructions.

Replace the screws, bolts, nuts, etc with stainless steel ones When you are all done buffing and sealing.

The gelcoat is 16-18 mils thick, and the top 5 to 6 mils is real dense, you would have to stand there for sometime to burn it.

If you do, wetsand with 400 and rebuff. (unlikely that if you have any experience you will have to do this)

Use a rotary buffer, 1750 rpm and a wool yarn cutting pad with your compound.

Don't even bother to wipe off the residue.

Then using either a geniune lambs wool pad or a good foam polishing pad, polish out the marring created by the cutting process using any brand name polish.

Now you can use your DA to apply the finishing product, be it a wax or a sealant.

That is unless you choose to go with Big White (Finish Kare 1000P), which must be hand applied and removed to get bonding.

Get you a quality short, stiff bristle brush to clean the vinyl seats, trim, etc.

Don't waste time using a dollar store "brush".

That's a start.

Grumpy
 
You sound like you're on the right track. I've been doing this for almost 15 years straight, 8 of which were spending every day of my life on a 160ft superyacht and it's tenders, so I can probably help. haha.



I take it you already purchased the Starbrite with PTFE? Use it, it's great stuff, but next time save a few dollars and use basic soft scrub on the non-skid. Works just as well, and after detailing over 2000 boats, I cant tell the difference from a deck cleaned with soft scrub vs one scrubbed with dedicated deck cleaner. Just be sure to squirt the SS onto the brush head then scrub and not directly on the deck.. otherwise you'll have little brightened drip marks from the bleach in the SS.



As for the tough spots, a stiff bristle brush along with the soft scrub will work. Also, replace the marine simple green with Spray Nine cleaner if the simple green is too mild. Spray Nine is a stronger cleaner, but Simple Green marine is a little safer to use on gelcoat once it's polished. Spray Nine has a tendency to lightly etch the surface if you spray it directly on the boat. If you spray it on the washing medium (mitt, brush etc) first, then you'll be ok.



Boat Fenders with MS and 303 sounds like it should work. If it doesn't, get yourself some Marine Strip Marinestrip-Home . I don't know if you can get your hands on it, but if you can, you'll thank me for it. It will turn a blackend shore cord bright yellow again in a few seconds. Not many people know about that stuff, but now I suppose they will. It used to be a highly guarded secret with us deck crew. It will work on fenders too.



For washing before you compound, you can wash with the cheapest wash you can find. Zip Wax, laundry detergent like Ron mentioned, etc. Boats don't require the Autopian treatment that cars do in the decontamination phase.



Now on to the bad news, you need a rotary and a wool pad, you just do. At minimum you need a rotary and an aggressive foam pad but that's the best case scenario. DA's just don't generate the heat and friction needed to restore gelcoat. As for compounds, you can try the ones you have mentioned. I prefer 3m compounds and polishes but that's just me. I've actually never used the #67, it's either not enough for bad chalk or too aggressive for my needs. 3m Restorer Wax is a decent one step compound polish/wax if you have some chalkiness and don't want to follow it with a polish. I can get it to finish well. YachtBrite/Shurhold Buff Magic has been working well for me lately, Sea Ray uses it to take out 800 grit sanding marks at the factory and it finishes like a polish since it had diminishing abrasives in it. It needs to be followed with a sealant unlike 3M Restore/Wax. If the surface is really bad, I'll go straight to the 3M Super Duty and follow with a polish.



I highly recommend Collinite Fleetwax and Insulator Wax or #925 for a last step. It's super durable and really easy to buff on and off. I don't see NuFinish holding up in a marine environment.



For any metal you have, use Collinite's Metal wax and a toothbrush and some superfine bronze wool for the tough spots, no need to look elsewhere, it's the best. Anyone who says different just hasn't realized it yet. Top that with Collinite 845 and you'll be good to go.



For clear plastics, Novus, Plexus, 210.. it's all quality stuff.



For rust on the gelcoat, Find some MaryKate On/Off or good ol' muriatic acid. Be sure to use a natural fiber brush. I use a terry towel while wearing gloves. Don't use a nylon brush, it may melt. This is the stuff Ron was referring to most likely. It can be dangerous, just use common sense. If this scares you, simple toilet bowl cleaner gel works on the minor stuff.



One thing is for sure, you won't burn the gelcoat, even with a rotary/wool/super duty compound, which is basically rocks in a bottle. The DA may work to give you some improvement. If your boat is really chalky, don't even bother. Badly oxidized gelcoat will actually absorb the compound applied by hand or DA, and it'll look even worse.

Oh yeah, Magic Erasers are a thing of beauty for hose marks on your rails, etc.



Good luck and keep us updated!
 
Thank you for the all the great info! Will keep you informed.



Added to my arsenal:

Pro Polish by Yacht Brite

2x Shurhold black polishing pads, designed to work with Pro Polish.

Simple Green (gallon)

Soft Scrub

Jacobs Prep and Prime (phosphuric acid) for converting rust (iron oxide) to iron phosphate



Next going to hit harbor freight for a disposable rotary and wool pads. Maybe it'll last long enough for one use! Ha!



On a separate note, the boat dealer just told me the made a mistake on my total out the door price, and I now owe them $746 for sales tax. That's going to put a dent in my detailing money, so this boat is getting detailed on a budget.



Thank you again for the info.
 
Update, worked on the boat all day on Saturday. Here are a few results.



Simple Green sucks. Tried it on vinyl and deck and results were not all that great. Tried it on a few fenders and the results where the same. Tried mineral spirits on the fenders and they turned out much better, though not perfect. They are old and dry rotting and deformed and leaking air anyway, so going to toss them and just get a brand new set of four off eBay for 80 deer.



Starbrite nonskid deck cleaner with PTFE worked great, like magic! The black marks on the deck literally vanished.



Snap in deck carpet was very stained and dirty. Tried Simple green, minimal effect. Resolve carpet cleaner made a little bit more of an improvement. But Blue Magic carpet cleaner worked like magic. Old stains literally dissolved before my eyes and rinsed away.



Cleaning out the deck boxes was also fun, lots of mold and mildew. The deck drains where full of crud, one of them literally stopped up with black filth. I actually had to go to the hull fittings on the outside and shoot water up into the hull fitting in order to help unplug the deck drains.



So after working all day, I only go the cabin and deck clean and no work on the gel coat yet. Next weekend is calling for snow, so we will see what I can get done.
 
Another update



Did starboard side by hand, only used West Marine Cleaner Wax, using microfiber applicator and towels. Turned out really good, good shine, good reflection. Easy on, very hard to get off, lots of oxidation coming off on the towels, lots of elbow grease.



Did the port side using the Megs DA G110V2 started out using Megs 67 on a orange Lake Country low cut pad. Very hard to get off, didn't seem to be aggressive enough for a compound nor enough polish effect for a "one step" product. Super hard to get off with a microfiber. Gave up on it went back to the West Marine Cleaner Wax. It was also harder to wipe off than the starboard side, but I was putting it on with the DA with a low cut pad, so was probably cutting off more oxidation. Went to a terry cloth for removal and things starting going much smoother. The port side was also in the sun from where it was stored, so more oxidation.



Overall, here are my conclusions

1. Very happy with the cleaner wax, comes off easier with much more gloss

2. Not happy with the megs 67, not aggressive enough for compound, not gloss enough for a one step. Seemed the cleaner wax removed more oxidation, wiped off easier, easier to apply by hand (on the tight spots), and left more of a gloss with better reflection.

3. Megs DA with orange pad is OK, but should have used a rotary and wool pad for the oxidation. Luckily I only had light oxidation.



Pics below:

The day I picked it up.

Sig260New001.jpg


The day I picked it up, had a little bit of gloss/reflection

Sig260New004.jpg




Before I got started

Notdone.jpg




Starboard side done with Cleaner Wax by hand

DoneCW2.jpg




Port side, below rub rail is done with 67 and cleaner wax, above rail not done

btmdonetopnot3.jpg




Will follow up with Pro Polish over the whole boat applied with DA and black Shurhold pads.
 
Hatchman, the boat looks fantastic. I apologize for not checking back to this tread, the notifications weren't being sent to me. I will read your posts more thoroughly when I have time later today.
 
tzw said:
Hatchman,



I don't know if you've sworn off buying a rotary yet but I just ordered a Dewalt dwp849X from their outlet store. Don't know if you looked into this one, I thought it had pretty decent features for the money compared to some others out there.



DeWALT 7-Inch/9-Inch Variable Speed Polisher with Soft Start DWP849X
Click to expand...



Thank you for the link on the DeWALT, that looks perfect for what I need, good price too. That will be my next detailing tool, and some wool pads.



First Coast said:
Hatchman, the boat looks fantastic. I apologize for not checking back to this tread, the notifications weren't being sent to me. I will read your posts more thoroughly when I have time later today.
Click to expand...



Thank you! Still needs some more work, coat of polish and some sealant. Got sidetracked with other projects, new stereo, speakers, recovering the dash with vinyl overlay, had the carpets professional steam cleaned, replacing all the lights with LEDs, etc. Also had some electrical setbacks, found loose wires behind the battery switch box and one of the batteries was dead. Unwrapped the bimini top for the first time and was greeted with mildew.



As Glen said, boats are a work in progress.
 
Worked a little more on the boat last weekend. Now attacking the lightly oxidized areas with Meguiars Ultimate Polishing Compound and their purple wool pad and the Meg's dual action polisher on the highest setting.

Followed it up wit Shurhold's Pro Polish on the whole starboard side and cheap old Nu Finish on the port side. Amazingly, Nu Finish went on easier, came off easier, has a better shine, and feels slicker. My guess it will last longer as well, but time will tell.



Slow go, but starting to see more and more shine.



Too anyone about to do a boat with even a little oxidation, get a rotary! DA's are good for polish or sealant, but don't cut it even with a wool pad and compound.
 
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