Wet Sanding

[ProComp]

Decided to try wet sanding first instead of clearcoating. Looking for helpful hints.

Hand sand or use a pneumatic orbital? If hand, straight or circular motion? Use a block or sponge under paper?

I was told to use soap in the water?

Any idea how long this will take?

Going to use 1500 grit.

Thanks guys.

92 STV ProComp

[BrentShaw]

I did the same thing to a Rapid Craft it was faded really bad! I started with 800 wet, with small spunge and worked up to 2000 grit. Moslty in a straight motion then buffed it out. Lookes like brand new

[Talon2.5]

brents on it!!

no circular motion start with a rougher grit and work toward the 1500 put some liqid soap (just a few drops) in the sanding water and go for it, be ready to spend a few good hours sanding and then a few good hours buffing

[Pete 88 Venus]

Yeah, right on. One more thing to add, yes, do not sand in a circular motion, sand straight, but sand in an "X" pattern. Create cross hatches. When sanding along a radius, do not sand in a straight line along it, sand into it but on a 45° or less angle in one direction and then back over it in the other direction. Also make sure you use plenty of water, I usually just keep a hose just dribbling right next to me to keep wetting it down with.

[Pete 88 Venus]

oh yeah, and you probably shouln't use your hand. Get yourself a nice soft block or even a hard block for the big flat areas. You can never apply even pressure with your bare hand.

[skydog]

I just bought a high speed buffer and would like to buff my Allison.What kind of compound should i get? Has very very little marks in the paint? 1000 grit?
THANKYOU
Skydog:confused:

[Racemore]

I don't get your theroy,In line sanding will staighten and or flaten the area your working.you don't see many people sanding with an air file.Thats why they have a DA,orbital sander,orbital buffer?WAX ON,WAX OFF Daniel-son.

Wetsanding can be done with a DA or waterbug but you better be careful were the gel is thin.If you get a piece of sand between your boat and machine it will F*&@#*&P before ya know it and an 80grit scratch will take about 5 Mil's to clean up.Thats why on any boat that I do I wetsand by hand with a enough water to keep it cleaned out but little enough to let the paper cut.When I got my boat it had a quicky clearcoat job that was peeling so I scraped it off with a razorblade and brought it back,Also did a 23 Eliminator the same way.They will both be at the Glen M-day weekend.Checkem out.
This is just how I was taught by some of the best in my little town and I've only been doing it for 26 years. good luck, Lonnie :cool:

[patchesII]

never occurred to me to do it with a machine. it's not like hand sanding was strenous. i could be wrong skydog but 1000 sounds a little rough. unless the boat is real bad, which from previous posts it doesn't sound like yours is, i would stay on the high side of 1500. try 2000 first in an area, buff it and if you don't like it go to 1500. i think the main thing is to make sure the boat is clean before you start and use plenty of water to keep it that way. good luck, erik kiser

[Stray Kat]

I just did the transom of my other boat ( 34' Cruiser ) to get the shadow left from the previous name when I removed the letters.
I first used 800 then 1200 & then finished with 1500. I then power buffed it with 3M liquid compound. It came out fantastic, looks like a new boat. I used plenty of water & sanded in straight back & forth motion. :D :p

[[email protected]]

I'm a little more cautious:
make sure it is gel coat!!!
Start with 1500 and use allot of water
working your way to 2200
then the 3m red rubbing compound
for those of you who have production boats & race hulls below 1000# there is a reason, the gel coat is thin just like the rest of the boat!!!!!thats why your manufactures don't do fades and multiple color on the same panel.
when working in areas of blends ( factory fades ) use only 2200 and be very gentle!
either way you have nothing to loose if your willing to put forward the effort.

[Ted Stryker]

There are some products such as meguires gel restore or the aqua buff product that had a diminishing grit.. Starts off cutting like 1500-1800 grit and the grit buffs down and diminishes to give a near gloss.. Good stuff

[[email protected]]

Yes Kevin I fully agree. Meguires has a lot of excellent products for restoring gel coat deterioration and keeping toys looking top notch. My personal challenge was finding a source of each of the steps (product) that I needed without buying a case of it. Any Lowes or Home Depot is a source of decent quality wet sanding paper, and the 3m products can be found at a source of fiberglass supplies or online.
Allot of people don't like the Meguires for its silicone content. It makes it shine for a short period and then quickly returns to faded Conditions after a few washes or trips to the lake.

[whipper]

I would try starting from 1000 first. As mentioned if its not to bad. You will be suprized how much 1000 takes off. That way you dont risk going down to far and have lots of Gel left for another time 10-15 years from now. Im going to do my BLACK!! windscreen this week some time. Im going 1000 1500 then 2000. Its never been done since new in 2000.

[Sutphil]

I have always wet sanded and gotten good results but 3M has a fiberglass restoration video on you tube that high-lite their products and use an orbital sander and 1200 dry sanding discs. I haven't tried this but it looks worth checking out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke5kfYz9Ybw

[97 TWISTER]

IMO wet sand and clear it. The reason is as mention above that there is probably not a lot of gel to work with. If you just wet sand and buff it will look good but fade back sooner of later and now you with have to remove more gel to repeat process. I would wet sand with 800-1000 grit and use a good clear with UV protector, I like PPG DC4000 for over all, nice to work with but gets good and hard. I know its quite a bit more costly but if you do it this way and you will preserve for ever ok almost forever lol. Just my .02

[FUJIMO]

www.AquaBuff.com (http://www.AquaBuff.com) Aqua Buff 1000 and Aqua Buff 2000. Its what the pro's in new boat, performance boat manufacturing, have used for years.

[idvette]

https://youtu.be/uVlNUljCK1A

I did mine a few years ago, it needs it again. Read the description, mine was bad, started at 400 to knock down the oxidization, worked up to 1000, then took a buffer to it. You can see the progress in the walk around.

[jmadisonbiii]

I just bought a high speed buffer and would like to buff my Allison.What kind of compound should i get? Has very very little marks in the paint? 1000 grit?
THANKYOU
Skydog:confused:

I just did a 30+ year old Allison with 3M Imperial compound in the purple bottle, 3m wool pad, them 3M marine ultra paste wax. It turned out great.

[25ss]

This is the hot new ticket
We use this as part of our headlight restoration work.
Talked to some guys who did boats with the usual 1500 and buff thought it was great.
Went over it with these pads and buffed said it was much better.
Dale
https://youtu.be/JVz6l9s-by0

[derpid]

when I bought my spyder it was covered in a cheap clear coat. it didn't weather well and started to yellow horribly. I talked to a few diff ppl and even got a quote from a fibreglass repair shop(you wouldn't believe what he wanted to charge me) so some time later I grabbed my orbital and went to work. I started with 400 to remove the old clear. moved on up the ladder 600, 800, 1000, 1500. by the time I got to 1500 it looked like a faded old hull. I used 3M marine rubbing compound and a power polisher with the red meguiars foam buff pad. looked spectacular by the time I was done that stage. but just to add some depth and clarity I finished with the 3M finesse it 2 and a wool buff pad. soooo shiny. gell coat is very forgiving but only if you have enough left on your hull to work with. on the darker gell I was able to keep a trouble light in behind it and see where it was thinner with the amount of light that would pass through. this helped me from going to far before it was too late.

[Thunderduck]

You may want to try this stuff first: 3M Finesse-It II Machine Polish/Glaze3MGet A High-Gloss Wet Look on Fiberglass and Painted Surface.


Entry Level Machine Polish.
Designed for us on OEM and fully cured automotive paints.
Removes mirocfine sractches and swirl marks while leaving a high gloss finish.
Product contains no wax or silicone.
Available in quart & gallon size