Spring Prep Questions

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parkrode360

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Jan 28, 2007
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25031
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Last year I went over the boat with Buff Magic by hand (what a workout) and finished with Leverage. The Leverage worked fine but (you guessed it), could've used a bit more muscle with the Buff Magic.

Just bought a 7" wheel to address the muscle issue and have three questions:
1) Is wool versus foam more a personal issue or is there any real benefit of one over the other?
2) This will be the boat's first time wheeling Buff Magic -- how agressive should the Buff Magic pad be, what color pad should I use for the polish?
3) Should I finish with Pro Polish (I've heard very good things about it), stay with the Leverage, or will using Pro Polish and then Leverage give me some "belt and suspender" additional protection?
 
I would think a 2006 model boat would not have needed much buffing, or any buffing, last year. If the gelcoat is good and you just want a little more shine, I think a fine polish should do the trick. In the long haul it's easier to apply a protective finish on the topside a couple times through out the season than busting your hump removing oxidation/chalkiness. In the middle of summer not only is it a pain to do it also takes away boating time. Plus it also tough to find enough time to do when the sun is beating down on the boat. I know how much time it takes to do a 26 footer. A 36 footer must take at least 4 days to hand buff and polish.
 
George, what kind of 7" wheel did you get? Can you adjust the rpm's? Hopefully you can set it around 1000rpm's. Besides personal preference the difference between wool & foam is the wool is going to be more aggressive. As said, a 2006 shouldn't need aggressive buffing at this point. Depending on who makes the foam pad, the colors will vary. Generally yellow is what you come back to as the pad fitting the need. Unfortunately there is no industry standard for color vis-a-vis cut,i.e. I have seen one company's black is for compounding while another is final buff! Using BM by hand is a dual waste; your time & product. However if you used it last year your surface should be in reasonably good shape. You just need to clean the surface now and then apply a finish coat. Leverage, although called a polish, has no cleaning properties. ProPolish applied by machine will give you a better look now.

Send me an email for links for pads. Good luck with it.
 
My 2005 gelcoat looks like cr*p. The original owner never took care of it. My boat looks like my buddy's 1988 Silverton, so all this info is good for me. I will be starting on buffing out my boat in the next week or two.
 
Manmade, I got a Northern Industrial sander / polisher (11 amp, 7", 5/8 arbor) from Northern Tool. Goes down to 1000 RPM, up to 6000. I read in that excellent sticky post that I want to stay around 1000 (if not less) so I don't burn the gelcoat. The only detrement I can see about my choice is that I misread the trigger lockout as a "trigger lock" -- so my fingers may get tired.

I agree that a 2 (actually 3) year old boat shouldn't have to be compounded, but I have a black hull that has definitely exhibited "cloudiness" over the past year -- so I want to see whether it's just "probable user error" on my side in not being up to speed on how to best care for the finish or if it's Rinker's issue as far as the quality of the gelcoat, etc. I'm laying odds that I was treating the boat too much like a car and thinking a twice / year coat of wax would protect from UV.

Manmade, I'll shoot for the anchor this year -- I've been looking at AutoGeeks and from their boating section it appears thata yellow (light cut) or white (no cut) foam pads as the most "doable" -- i.e., the easiest to recover from if I totally eff it up. I'll do the BM and Pro Polish, then maybe use the last of my Leverage on top of it (after I see how good / bad it comes out)
 
George, the anchor thing is my email "problem" also, though by choice. If you want some more info it is JackRR42 at aol dot com.
 
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