Gel Coat Polish
 

By way of confession I have NEVER polished my boat except for a few small gel coat repairs where I first wet sanded and then used 3M Marine Compound that I did maybe 10 years ago or more. It is nearly impossible to see these repairs but that was a bit of work.

Now after about 17 years the port side hull has some dulling, particularly where the trailer fender reflects the sunlight so it gets a double dose of sunlight. I wonder what the best way to attack this is and maybe give the whole hull a once over. Should I use something like 2000 W/D paper first or just a buffer and compound? What buffer speed, type of pad and compound do you all recommend?

On another note my most visible gel coat issues are purple and pink marks that tend to show up in various places like the bow area and rear platform. It's a different kind of polish if you have not guessed :) As these can be stubborn what's the best way others have found to remove.

Re: Gel Coat Polish
 

Following. Need to do the same here.

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Re: Gel Coat Polish
 

I don't buff or polish my boats. I use this for the hull and deck areas not for walking. It's not paint, just wax: COSTACOAT 1 Qt. Gel Coat Shine Revitalizer RV Boat Restoration Fiberglass Paint

I now have heard that ordinary commercial grade floor wax works just as well and costs much less, but I haven't tried it yet: ZEP 128 oz. Wet-Look Floor Polish-ZUWLFF128 - The Home Depot

To remove stains, you might try this for water-borne stains: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ordinary bleach might work on your other stains. What are they from?

Re: Gel Coat Polish
 

Thanks GaryDoug. That blue Mariah in the pictures for the costacoat looks great! How do you apply it on you boat?

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Re: Gel Coat Polish
 

First you scrub it gently with the Costacoat prep solution and a microfiber cloth (included in kits). It doesn't take much effort, it's mostly just a mild cleaner and prep solution. I still have about half of my original quart of the prep. The final coats go on very easily. You just use a cloth to spread it on and let it dry. Four coats minimum will give it a fairly good shine if the surface was badly oxidized, like my sailboat was. 6-9 coats are probably what you are seeing in the ads, maybe even 10 coats. You can do another coat about 1-2 hours after the previous coat. Do not put this on any surface that will be walked upon, it is slippery like a wax. I did my sailboat last summer and it still looks shiny but it probably needs a couple of maintenance coats, like stated in the instructions.

I can't help but wonder if this stuff is almost the same as commercial floor wax. It smells like liquid wax. I think I will try the ZEP stuff from Home Depot or Lowes next time. The Costacoat stuff is kind of expensive to do a whole boat (maybe 2 quarts).

Re: Gel Coat Polish
 

Thanks for the advice on the wax/coating products I will look into that.

The stains (you were supposed to guess) are nail polish or toenail polish I think. It's a bit difficult to remove and I've used superfine 1000/2000 wet dry paper then compound. I don't think nail polish remover would be a good idea on gel coat but open to other suggestions.

Re: Gel Coat Polish
 

Acetone (same as nail polish remover) is what I preped the area i did a gel coat repair this spring. I taped the area off to minimize the work area, scrubbed the area with water abs let dry. After the repair you have to wax the area where you worked.

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Re: Gel Coat Polish
 

I was wary of using acetone on the gelcoat. but I might try it in an inconspicuous spot.

I'm making a sort of list of things I need to take care of. Our boat has been with us since new and so I still try to keep it nice even after 17 years of ownership. In truth it has held up very well and in good shape except for the sundeck which will need to be re-covered someday. That's the only thing I can't clean or treat or do myself but I did find the fabric and got samples from a link here. May order the material and take the whole deck to a local auto upholsterer who is familiar with boat work this winter.