How to polish like a pro

Hello all!

I recently arranged a polishing course to various boat owners here in Sweden as I realized that not many boat owners know how to polish a boat like a pro and that they used wrong pads for the different phases of boat cleaning and polishing. Now it sounds like I am a pro myself, which is not, the truth as many of you know. Long story short, I met the right person in the right time and place who told me one and two things about polishing and as I listened to him I realized that not only me but also other people I know have done it wrong for years.

 

Before you start considering wetsanding your boat and by doing so, thinning out your gelcoat layer, consider to polish like a pro with pro products. It will be worth while the time and the money.

Its all about using the right pads and chemicals in order to reach a super shiny surface.

 

My boat has been quite dull during last few years and the grey waterline has been almost white to the level where I thought that I need to re-paint it. The deck house has been impossible to get shiny and I thought that it was due to UV radiation. This is what I did and I got some test sport to shine like a mirror.

 

Step 1.
Before you polish you need to wash your boat with alkaline detergent which will remove all carbon based dirt. Start from the top of the boat so you will not later on get running marks on the side of the hull.

Add the detergent, let it cure for a while and then use a cloth or sponge to rub the areas clean. If the dirt is too strong, use alkaline detergent directly on the sponge. Rinse with water when you are done and let it dry or dry with a cloth. At this stage my boat started to shine so the alkaline detergent really did its job.

 

Step 2.

Take a orbit polishing machine if you have as they are the best ones to polish with. They do not leave holograms or “suns”. However, an ordinary rotating machine does the trick to.

The essence here is to use “full speed” as the friction creates heat and the heat reacts with the rubbing paste. Use a sheep wool pad, as it is the coarsest pad you can use for rubbing. NO, it’s NOT for polishing!! Sheeps look soft and cute but the wool is made of long fibers that actually are not soft at all when it comes to a gelcoat surface.

Use a medium course rubbing paste to remove all remaining oxidation on the gelcoat. Have few pads as reserves, a 37 footer need 4 pads approx.. Rub the whole side/boat before you move to next step. Very important that you do not do small areas at the time. At this step, my areas started to shine like never before so in general I could stop here but I still need to protect the now shining areas so let’s continue…

 

Step 3.

Move now to a medium hard and coarse foam pad and to a finer polishing paste. Medium speed on the polishing machine and start polishing the whole area/boat as above.

 

Step 4.

Change to a fine and soft...er pad and use fine polishing paste and slow speed on the machine. Remember, you need to move the machine all the time on all the steps so you don’t get burn marks. When you have done this, your boat should now be shiny like mirror. If not, I do not know what you have done with your boat.

 

Step 5.

Time to seal and wax. Take a soft, soft sponge and apply polishing paste by hand. Let it dry and remove remaining’s with a micro cloth. This is the phase where you use a wax with UV protection.

 

We used Menzernas rubbing and polishing products for each step. They have a series of products where every step is numbered (1-4) so you know which product to use. I suggest you start with the product numbered as 3 and see how it effects your boats surface. Iif its doing good, use the 4 after it, if not, move to product 1 which is liquid sandpaper. Do not use the one-step product, as it will not be as good as all the one by one products.

There are off course lot of similar products from 3M, Autoglym etc etc but this is what we tried and found to be good. They are used by pros, not sp cheap but if you do it right, you do not need to do step 1 to 3 more than every 3 years. This varies off course depending of where you have your boat. for you on sunny areas, you need to use the UV protection polish in order to keep everything in good shape.

 

Let me know if you have questions.

 

 

Products broschure https://www.menzerna.com/files/Dokumente/Marine/menzerna_Boat_polishes_EN.pdf

Pads, this is what I refer to https://www.sgatrading.se/store/category/polerrondeller-291298

 

You are so welcome.

I havent finished my whole boat yet. Next year will be the first time I do the whole boat by the instructions above so I cant guarantee that the three years is correct. It depends on how good ground job you have done and if you have yot boat in harder conditions than what we have in Sweden.

Edited by MarcoC - 21 December 2018 at 12:29

On my boat the hullsides are crisp white and mirrorlike. The deck however has started to get a yellow tint. The deck with its anti slip is a bastard to polish but i both rub and polish every year.

Anyhow: if anyone has some good input on how to bleach the yellow tint (rubbing does not seem to do it) im happy