Take a look at what you can do

[Checkmate2.5]

Wow that looks incredible, I need to do this to my checkmate but every thing I have tried has little effect on it, I tried waxing, mequires boat wax, marine rubbing compound, mothers mag polish, even wet sand with 2000 on a small spot and all that did was dull it worse so I stopped. I am afraid to wetsand but maybe I am just doing something wrong. Things are warming up here and I need to start working on this, according to you guys all I need to do is buy 1000 then 1500 then 2000 and it will look great after that. Is all sandpaper the same or is there special kind, all i have found is 1500 and 2000 at napa. -shane

After wetsanding you'll need to buff the gellcoat to remove the scratches. That should take care of the dull spots.

[supergenius74]

you are right, it did, i just sanded a bunch with 2000 grit and then used heavy duty marine compound and then a little maguires wax and it looks awesome, now i need to go and by a crapload of 2000 grit sandpaper. There is still a tiny bit that the 2000 grit did not remove and still some small scratches that the compound did not remove, with some practice and possibly some 1500 for the worst spots i think my boat will look really nice, well I'd better get busy. -shane

[Dregsz]

Quick question.
When wetsanding, rub in a linear side to side motion or round and round?

[afr]

hahah
i used pledge on mine the weekend of river ranch
cause i was home and had nothing else to dust it off with
no time to wash it so
i said ureka pledge
wiped down real quick
it look great and held up for days
the only thing was it was oily after a while and slick as a you know what
worked in a pinch

[Dregsz]

My wet sand didn't turn out SO great, but much better. took off most all the oxidation anyway.
before/after

[Dregsz]

couple more before/afters

[wca_tim]

depending on how much clear gel there is on there, you may need to get more agressive to get all the oxidized gel off. I went down to 320 on a da for my current boat before I got all the oxidized gell off then worked back through 600, 1000 and 1200 before hitting it with a water solutble buffing product called aquabuff 200 and a high speed buffer. finesse it after and it looked like new glass... I liked the aqua-buff because it doesn't have any wax or oil in it and won't hide the oxidized gel only to have it look like crap again in three weeks...

I've also had good luck with 3m's heavy duty compound after sanding...

and even though the above will give you a great finish, the surface of the gel is not nearly as resistant to oxidation and sun damage as it was when out of the mold, keep it waxed or you'll be back in the same place again before long...

[Dregsz]

What's a "DA"?

dual action sander?

[wca_tim]

yes, was referring to "dual action" / orbital air sander. works well with wet paper and just a tiny bit of dish soap in the water, but you have to be careful - it can be overly aggressive especially if you bear down at all on it or stop moving for long. If you crank the air up and lean on it even with 320 you're going to see glass, but if you go easy on the air, keep moving and let the sander do the work, it's easy to do a good job with. One of those things you want to practice on someone elses boat. (kidding!) note that if you do it with light across a dark color you can see the haze in the gel even when wet and go until the hazy porous part is gone - assuming that you can get through it alll without running out of color or hitting flakes. I'm just a backyard hack, not an expert, but that's been my experience.

ps. know I'm stating the obvious here, but wet sanding with an electric orbital works fine until you start to do the 60 hz shuffle...

[Dregsz]

assuming that you can get through it alll without running out of color or hitting flakes. I'm just a backyard hack, not an expert, but that's been my experience.

ps. know I'm stating the obvious here, but wet sanding with an electric orbital works fine until you start to do the 60 hz shuffle...

I think the problem I'm having is the flakes are already gray aluminum and that's why the deck looks so dull.

and what is the 60hz shuffle?

[Dregsz]

Oh, and where do you get wetsand paper to stick on a sanding pad?
I can only find sheets

[wca_tim]

If the flakes are on the surface, it's too far gone.

Honestly, I think I got the 3m paper at napa...

I would probably just get some 320, 600, 1000 and 1500 and pick a spot to see if you can get through the haze using the 600 first, just try by hand. I'm gonna feel bad if you get the sander out and burn through it after listening to me. We're talking the surface will look dull, but there won't be any hazy cloudy depth to it, or at least very little. You can probably get away with going to just 1000 and then using 3m superduty rubbing compound (I was using some today and it cuts really well on a wool bonnet at high speed and then finish up with finesse it 2 on a new foam pad or I usually just iuse the other side of the wool bonnet). Then finish up with any good wax and keep it waxed to protect if from the sun, etc... The 3m products are expensive, but many work very well.

Note that my checkmate - the boat that i finally resorted to using the sander on, is black and silver metalflake and looked like white chalk when I started. It also has a mile of clear so I didn't go through it even doing that. I'll see if I can find some batteries tomrrow and take a picture of the engine compartment cover I touched up using finesse it this afternoon...

Again, I'm not an expert, just something I've done a few times and have had good luck with some of what other people told me to try... Hope this is helpful...

Oh, the 60 hz shuffle... Our electricity cycles at 60 hz (cycles per second) so that is the the rate at which your muscles try to twitch as the current passes through your body between the wet sander in your hand and the water on the floor...

[Dregsz]

Oh, the 60 hz shuffle... Our electricity cycles at 60 hz (cycles per second) so that is the the rate at which your muscles try to twitch as the current passes through your body between the wet sander in your hand and the water on the floor...

LOL,
I got a laugh out of that.

[150aintenuff]

evan your down to the flake in the nose, was looking at it lastnight, its as good as its gunna get on the nose...

[benski]

From what I've seen on Spike TV and some other perhaps more informative videos, the guys use a figure 8 pattern for sanding the larger areas. This helps reduce sanding low spots into your finish.