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" rel="nofollow -
Pads, this is what I refer to https://www.sgatrading.se/store/category/polerrondeller-291298" rel="nofollow -
------------- "Älva"
Hanse 370#671
Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.wesailhanse.se" rel="nofollow - www.wesailhanse.se big wheel, deep draught iron keel, 3 cabins,Yanmar 3JH4E, Sparcraft rig.
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