Dull paintwork

[Mark Houliston]

Hi there, the front end of my boat is looking dull and feels slightly rough to the touch. I have had the boat for 6 months and to be honest it was like that when I bought it. I always keep my boat covered and out of the sun.

Is there anything that I could use to get this paintwork looking shiny and new?
I have tried cut and polish but this only helps a little???....maybe one of those buffers that you stick on a drill???

Any help would be great!:o

[Steeler]

Hi Mark H

Send Blackened ( Dave ) a PM he details boats for a living and has posted many times on how to tidy up gelcoat,maybe even get him to do a detail on it.You'll will find no shortage of happy customers of his work on here pretty quick to recommend him.

Cheers

Steve

[Blackened]

G'day

First and foremost, what's happening here is the sun is breaking down he gelcoat on your boat. it's not paint. The UV rays sucks out the oils out of the gelcoat over a period of time, opening the pores and sending it chalky.

Best thing to do is to cover your boat, get it in the shade.

Failing that, cut and polish the area, then cover with a quality wax. The cut will remove oxidization, the polish will feed oils back into the surface and the wax will seal the whole lot up and protect it.

Have a search here in boating chat for my thread Detailing, How To.

Dave

[Archer]

Its that good a post i even have the link saved!!
Thanks again Blackened. ;)

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=104589

[wrxhoon]

You need to get a buffing machine , you can get cheap Chinese ( well under $100) I don't know how good they are or how long they will last, I use German or jap.
Buy some gelcoat compound , use a lamswool pad , that will cut the most but will leave buff marks if you are not experienced and use slow speed. When you finish with the compound use a gelcoat polish and a sponge pad ,orange colour pad should be good for the polish but yellow will do she should come up just like when she was new .
Use some good wax to seal all that and keep her out of the sun , you put the wax on by had , its very easy.
Gelcoat is very porous and goes dull very quick in the sum , unlike 2 pack car paint.
If you want to keet her shiney you have to wax her at least once a year and buff every couple years, the longer you leave her dull the longer it will take you to buff her .

When you finish yours you can come and do mine as well, better still I'll lend you my machines and pads to do your boat as long as you do mine later .

[Mark Houliston]

Hey guys thanks for you replies, will have to get onto this and get it done I think...sounds like a bit of a mission though but will be well worth it. Im one of those who always has a soft clean rag in me hands and am always out there cleaning the boat when it get a bit noisy in the house or just need some space.

wrxhoon....thanks for the offer......will let you know when I will be round!......might be a while though!