Hi,
I just bought a 77 Nordic and the gelcoat is original. It is yellow with black stripes. I have buffed cars and have been doing cars for a while (not for business though). Anyway, I use 3M products. So I thought I would break out the snap on varible speed buffing wheel with a foam pad attached and try getting a shine out of the gel coat. I used 3M foam pad glaze with the foam pad wheel. It came out good but I know it should have a better shine than what it is. Do I need a more aggresive cutter. I know it does not need wet sanding cause it is not that bad. What do you recommend. By the way the foam pad stuff from 3M is the best I have used so far and after that you hand gaze it with the 3M hand glaze. Thanks.
T.J.
THIS IS AN ORIGINAL POST WE ALL PITCHED IN ON A COUPLE OF MONTHS BACK. HOPE THIS HELPS BUFFING GELCOAT
HERE ARE SOME PICTURES
[img]http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/521/252buff3-med.JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/521/252buff2-med.JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/521/252buff1-med.JPG[/img]
TJS:
Hi,
I just bought a 77 Nordic and the gelcoat is original. It is yellow with black stripes. I have buffed cars and have been doing cars for a while (not for business though). Anyway, I use 3M products. So I thought I would break out the snap on varible speed buffing wheel with a foam pad attached and try getting a shine out of the gel coat. I used 3M foam pad glaze with the foam pad wheel. It came out good but I know it should have a better shine than what it is. Do I need a more aggresive cutter. I know it does not need wet sanding cause it is not that bad. What do you recommend. By the way the foam pad stuff from 3M is the best I have used so far and after that you hand gaze it with the 3M hand glaze. Thanks.
T.J. TJ,
Make sure you are using a polish after the rubbing compound. The 3M compound will shine it up quite a bit, but the polish will bring out the color better and make it look like glass.
HOOTER
that looks AWESOME placecraft
THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENTS! IT EVEN LOOKS BETTER IN PERSON. EVERYONE SWEARS ITS BEEN CLEARCOATED. ANYWAY, I FORGOT TO ADD HOOTERS COMMENT. AFTER ALL OF THE WORK BE SURE TO KEEP IT WAXED. THE 3M PRODUCTS DO NOT HAVE ANY WAX OR U.V. PROTECTION.
Thanks I did a search last nite and found the answers I was looking for on the how to gel coat link. I got some 3m marine compound and did the whole top surface today. It came out good. I will do the Perfect It foam pad glaze when I am done compounding to make it deep looking. I have to do the sides tomorrow. It is coming out real nice though. Thanks for the replies.
T.J.
A buddy of mine has an old switzer craft. he just wet sanded with 600 and sprayed clear eurethane on it...looks like new!!!!!!
has anybody else done this? I was thinking of doing it to mine also, but would like to hear any pros or cons and just how long it will hold up.
or do you think wet sanding and buffing the gel is the way to go?
when i baught my boat it had been sprayed with a clear coat. it didnt last very long, but i didnt have the opportunity to keep the boat in a garage either. and mine is the metal flake gell (brown and silver)and i have a feeling that the metal flake reflects quite a bit and the clear coat gets wasted. i have no idea what clear coat was sprayed. maybe it was a cheap paint and thats why it didnt last.
checkmate76:
A buddy of mine has an old switzer craft. he just wet sanded with 600 and sprayed clear eurethane on it...looks like new!!!!!!
has anybody else done this? I was thinking of doing it to mine also, but would like to hear any pros or cons and just how long it will hold up.
or do you think wet sanding and buffing the gel is the way to go? I just cleared mine with Urathane and it is the best thing I have done. My boat is primarily white with the outside border being brown metal flake. The white was fine but the brown would fall out after a weekend on the water so I masked off the brown and cleared it, cut and buffed it and now I have no more problems. It also lookes way better than just buffing it and water spots are easier to get rid of. I would highly reccommend it to anyone and just remember to spend a little more and buy a quallity product, I used Martin Senour. Hope that helped.
Chris
Dosent the urethane yellow after a while? I do garage epoxy coatings and we used to seal with urethane but it would yellow after about 6 months. Be careful
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