My Results with BM & PP

S

Sandy K.

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Went to the marina to clean up my hull yesterday. I used Buff Magic with a Harbor Freight 7" non-orbital polisher with an 8.5" white foam Lake Country Mfg. hook & loop bonnet. The finish on my boat is in very good condition. I applied the BM using a 2" cutting paint brush and then buffed using the machine.

Wow!! My hull came so clean that I now realized that even though my hull is in good condition, the BM did quite a job cutting through ground in dirt.

One thing I did notice was that the BM did not buff out entirely. It did a great job on the gel coat, but I had to towel it off. Maybe I used too much BM or didn't let it dry enough? Hopefully someone here can shed some light for me.

I then used the PP - wiped on by hand, let dry some then wiped off by hand. The PP did not add to the shine - seems to me it provides a seal over the gel coat after the BM. BM is what really made the gel coat shine.

It took me 5 hours to do the port side. My arms get to rest today - gotta cut the lawn anyway. Tomorrow I attack the starboard side. So far I am very impressed with the BM. I am hopeful that the PP will last long enough to keep the finish sealed throughout the season.

I'm curious to learn of others' expectations regarding the balance of the season. Are you putting on 2 coats of PP now? I figure I shouldn't have to BM again, but what about PP?

Thanks for all the great suggestions, I so far I am very pleased with the BM/PP combo.
 
Another happy customer.

The stuff really is the best out there.

I am using Rejex this year on my center console's hull. The shine is amazing and the glass is super slippery.

I do like pro polish too but lean towards Rejex for the final finish.
 
Every year, we wash and wax our hull ourselves. This past year we did it so fast
that my brain cell figured out that we could add another coat of wax to last
longer and look better.
We found out that just one coat works well enough. It took my wife and I twice
the effort to get the second coat off. It stuck to the first coat very well.
It didn't want to come off. We tried the buffer and towels. We were sweating
like a whore in confession and the temperature was in the mid 60's.
 
I use two hand applied coats of Pro Polish. You really want to let the Pro Polish dry completely befor eyou buff it off with a terry cloth towel. Sounds like you might be using too much Buff Magic. I apply it thinly in 3 to 4 foot sectins with an applicator pad, like you would any wax. I then buff it out with the machine. I towel off any excees remaining after the rotary buffer, but it's not very much.
 
Yes, Shurhold got back to me they said that you use just a little and wipe off with a towel, before PP.
 
I just did BM today, tomorrow I will do the PP. Same observation as Sandy, a little difficult to remove. I had to go back and buff after I used a towel.

I used to use Maguires Heavy Oxidation Remover (even though my Gel Coat is in very good condition) and Star Brite with Teflon. I always got excellent results with those. So far, results are a little mixed, but comparable. Colored Gel Coat looks better with the Maguires, but above the rub rail (where it was white and oxidized) looks a heck of a lot better with the BM.

The marina owner drove by and complemented me on how good the boat looks. I'll reserve final judgement until the PP is on, and maybe until the end of the season to see how well it holds up. Maybe I can use both methods for best results.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Crownline 242

I just did BM today, tomorrow I will do the PP. Same observation as Sandy, a little difficult to remove. I had to go back and buff after I used a towel.

I used to use Maguires Heavy Oxidation Remover (even though my Gel Coat is in very good condition) and Star Brite with Teflon. I always got excellent results with those. So far, results are a little mixed, but comparable. Colored Gel Coat looks better with the Maguires, but above the rub rail (where it was white and oxidized) looks a heck of a lot better with the BM.

The marina owner drove by and complemented me on how good the boat looks. I'll reserve final judgement until the PP is on, and maybe until the end of the season to see how well it holds up. Maybe I can use both methods for best results.

Click to expand...


Please keep us posted!
 
Very easy to use too much Buff Magic. Used a Northern Industrial 7", and did a fantastic job on my hull. Was worried that applying Pro Polush in 55 degree weather may not cut it, but when I went back to the marina the next day, man, did it look good! May do another Pro Polish later in the season, but man, I'm sold!
 
Just started on the hull yesterday. The boat has been on the hard for over 18 months and the last compounding/waxing was over 24 months ago. It is pretty oxidized. The Buff Magic really works well! I also had to go back over it with a towel but this was pretty quick. As I went along I found (like others) that a very light coat of Buff Magic is the way to go. This is the best stuff I've used in close to 20 years. The Pro Polish did not seem to add to the shine, but I'm counting on it doing a great job as sealant/protectant.
 
I tried applying BM with a paint brush, but it was putting it on too heavy so I switched to a wax applicator pad and found I could control small amounts of BM better. I put a few dabs on and worked them in small circles and then let it dry. I found if I buffed before the BM dried, it dragged on the buffing wheel. I just used a yellow wool buffing wheel on my craftsman polisher. The PP went on very easy with a damp micro fiber cloth. I applied it in circular pattern than worked it in in small circles. I let it dry completely than polished with a white wool pad on the polisher. Looks great. I just hope it holds up as well as Aurora Boat Shine, as my hull still had water beading up on it when I washed it down. I put the Aurora Boat Shine on one year ago. I was even thinking of putting a coat of Aurora Boat Shine over the PP, but I'm not sure if its wise to mix two different polishes.
 
I also did the BM yesterday. I dabbed it on with a paint brush. Add me to the list of toweling it off afterward. It did a great job and the shine is kind of hard to believe on my old hull. Too cold today for PP. I plan on removing PP with an orbital and terry cloth bonnets?

Niles
 
Finally finished the hull today. Each side took about 5 hours, the transom about 1 hour. The PP goes on easy and comes off easy. I don't think you'll gain anything by taking it off with a polishing wheel - remember - it's not a wax. I just toweled it off,

I plan to do the topsides once she's in the water. Given the various irregular surfaces I plan to do it all by hand, using the wheel where it makes sense. This time though I'm going to use an applicator pad to apply both the BM and PP.
 
Sandy, I always use a foam applicator pad for both BM and PP. Without the pad, I can't control how much Buf magic I'm using and end up using too much.
 
I finished up with the PP and the boat looks great and I am pleased with the results. A few additional observations:

I came back a day and a half later to do the PP and the boat looked slightly duller than when I left. I was sort of expecting that because it appeared that the BM left a slight film which could have been some sort of carrier/solvent that added shine and evaporated during that time. I noticed this with other products (Maguires Heavy Oxidation) as well. On a side note, if you have a heavily oxidized hull, you should really compound a second time about two weeks after the initial application. After the first compound, you will notice that the oxidation appears to come back a bit in that amount of time.

I did the transom with Maguires Heavy Oxidation (my old method) for kicks. The Maguires is definitely more aggressive. It starts and ends with a coarser grit [with both BM and Maguires, the grit is supposed to disintegrate into finer particles as it is worked] . I buffed about 3 -4 square feed of blue Gel Coat with the Maguires and I had a lot more blue residue on the pad than when I did the blue sides of the hull. This is telling me that it is removing more of the Gel Coat.

The PP went on a came off very easily. I did not have to buff it out after I removed with it with a towel. PP is a lot thicker than the Star Brite with Teflon that I used to use. I assume that is has a lot less solvent judging by the smell (that is also what they advertise). The Starbrite has some sort of Hydrocarbon solvent that I did not detect in the PP. In my case, the PP added more shine than just BM.

The white sections of the hull appeared to look better with BM/PP. The top sides looked substantially better with the BM/PP. The colored sections looked slightly better with the old combination.

What is perplexing to me is how the top sides looked so much better, when I know that the BM does not remove as much of the Gel Coat (thus oxidation) as the Maguires. It is possible that the finer grit is polishing the surface allowing better reflection where the Maguires is leaving a rougher surface and not reflecting as well. It could also be some sort of residue that is left behind to provide the shine (you can put Mink Oil on heavily oxidized surfaces and it will look much better for a few weeks). I guess time will tell.

In conclusion, you really can't go wrong with the BM/PP combo. It is substantially better than other methods that I used which included Mink Oil, Turtle Wax, Maguires Three Step Process, 3M products and other assorted compounding products, but comparable to slightly better results than with the Maguires/Starbite method. I think that the worse your gel coat is, the better you will like the BM/PP combo. Will I use them again? As of right now, I think I will use the BM/PP on white sections and the Maguires for at least the compounding step on the blue. I will make a final determination next year when I see how it holds up.
 
Did my 1986 Silverton this weekend. Really did a nice job on my boat. I am sold!
 
I assume that everyone is using the white BM. Is that correct? Is there an advantage to using the pink with the jeweler's rouge. I assume that would be good on the stainless. Thanks for any help.
Keith
 
I used the pink. According to the BoatFix catalogue, that is all they had in a 22 oz can.

I am going to try it on my Stainless next.

I called and emailed Shurhold to see if it can be used on chrome as well, but they never got back to me. Now that I used it, I think the grit is too aggressive for chrome.
 
Good info. Just ordered mine. Has anyone used a RO buffer? If so, I'd be interested in hearing results. Thats all I currently own, but am considering a rotary.

Also- To compound/remove the BM is it ok to use a yellow wool pad? Can I use terry cloth pads? How about for removing the PP? Terry OK for that?

Dana
 
I also have the pink.

Used it this weekend with a rotary buffer and an gel-coat specific wool pad. One thing I noticed is that buffing stainless and fiberglass together is not a good idea. Hitting a stainless fitting leaves a residue on the pad that transfers to the gelcoat, and is pretty hard to remove. It would only come off with a fresh pad. I had to clean the pads pretty soon after hitting any stainless. The stainless didn't buff very well, either.

I didn't notice that much before and after BM difference on my top sides, but they were pretty shiny already. There were a number of scratches the BM didn't remove, but perhaps I was expecting too much. I didn't want to burn the gelcoat either.

On the deck, though, BM made a huge difference. It was pretty dull, and the BM made it quite shiny with minimal effort.
 
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