Wetsand vs Compound vs Polish

[matias]

I notice fellow sailors going directly to polish! no wash no prep! I know we are anxious to launch especially here in the northeast U.S.
I brought my power washer and gave the boat a good wash above the water line and just a good water spray below. After assessing the gelcoat I'm going with a compound buff first. Then a paste wax buff, folllowed by a new polymer base wax as a final application. I'm curious does anyone wash the boat while on the hardstand or just go directly to polish?

 

[Pete the Cat]

I would not recommend power washing gelcoat above the water line. I know that some boatyards do it---the one I work in uses a lower pressure heated water sprayer prior Spring launch, but I refuse its use on my boat--and I refuse to be involved in that process. I see folks using them regularly in the marina with their newly purchased Home Depot units--the professional gelcoat repair guy just shakes his head when he sees it going on. Gelcoat is very soft. Most of these pressure washers will damage the surface while removing dirt and grit and can drive dirt into the surface. You will need to wetsand to remove the pock marked surface created by them and that is not a good thing because, while gelcoat is thicker than paint, it will eventually wear through with the abrasives you will need to get a polished surface back.. When I am working on a boat, I generally start with aggressive detergent cleaning with a soft cloth and work from the least abrasive polish to what is needed in a test area to try to do as little damage as necessary with any abrasive.

On a related note, I was in the local inflatable/liferaft repair facility last summer and I asked the guys there about maintaining them. They said they recently had been having a bunch of inflatables that had developed unrepairable leaking from owners using pressure washers to clean the bottoms. They said they could not find any visible holes, the pressure washer (and probably the stuff on the bottom) made microscopic holes. That would be a clue as to the power to damage surfaces.

We have lots of wonderful technology available to help us maintain our boats--my new love is my electric ratchet. But some of it has a downside. I would leave pressure washers to the role of prep for repainting the bottom. If you are planning on multi season with your bottom paint, I would look for a less destructive way than pressure washing to clean the bottom in between hauls. Just one opinion. I am sure others will differ.

 

[Christian Williams]

Golly, it would be a shame to not carefully wash gelcoat before polishing. The polisher would just grind the dirt and grit into the surface we're trying to preserve.

I studied up on boat waxing last year and bought the gear. I found it hard work and my results were not all that grand. I just paid an independent guy $800 to do hull and decks, which took him nearly two full days (the standard charge for that here is now $1200).

It is worth it, I guess. The goal is protecting the 35-year-old gelcoat, any shine is bonus. Shine comes from compounding, not wax.

 

[matias]

Hi Pete I agree totally that power washing like using a rotary polisher experience comes a long way in using this tools appropriately. I did not know gelcoat was soft! I will do more research on the subject. Hi Christian the cost for buff here in LI NY about the same! Im having the bottom painted this year and the cost of a slip put me over the limit. I decided to buff myself this year and honestly is tough work!! if done right IMHO. Now I need to figure out how to tune my standing rigging!!
Christian how about a video how to tune a standing rigging?

 

[Christian Williams]

I tune the rig by looking up the mast to windward in various wind strengths. If it's straight, it's tuned.

Our masthead rigs are pretty basic so I don't worry much. Fitting failure? Rigging fittings get full paranoid attention.

 

[Loren Beach]

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I would suggest you obtain a copy of Brion's excellent book, The Riggers Apprentice. IMO it's both very readable and very informative. Even if you choose not to tune your own rig, you will know how to discuss the process with a rigger.

 

[matias]

Do you invest on a LOOS & Company rig tension gauge? I remember reading that 2 different sizes are necessary for a E38

 

[matias]

Hi Loren thank you for the book tip. It would be nice to learn and do my own work as much as possible!

 

[peaman]

They said they recently had been having a bunch of inflatables that had developed unrepairable leaking from owners using pressure washers to clean the bottoms.

I have found that if an inflatable has a bunch of growth from being too long in the water, cleaning is made a whole lot easier just by leaving the boat in the sun, bottoms up, for a day or so. Once the stuff dries, it comes off so much easier, in southern New England at least.

 

[bigd14]

I got a wild hair a few weeks ago and decided to polish the deck since the handrails were removed for refinishing. I started with the compounding and polishing and was unsatisfied with the results so I went back to wet sanding then compounding/polishing followed by wax. This took a total of about three 8-hour days over a couple weeks. I followed Maine Sails tutorial to the letter. It was hard to get in all the small spaces with the big polisher but I didn’t bother trying a smaller tool. I wasn’t looking for perfection. Overall I’m really happy with the results. Boat looks nearly new!

 

[Loren Beach]

I got a wild hair a few weeks ago and decided to polish the deck since the handrails were removed for refinishing. I started with the compounding and polishing and was unsatisfied with the results so I went back to wet sanding then compounding/polishing followed by wax. This took a total of about three 8-hour days over a couple weeks. I followed Maine Sails tutorial to the letter. It was hard to get in all the small spaces with the big polisher but I didn’t bother trying a smaller tool. I wasn’t looking for perfection. Overall I’m really happy with the results. Boat looks nearly new!

View attachment 47648

That is indeed a shine almost like when it first popped out of the mold!
Nice work.

 

[William Wash]

After several failed attempts at getting my 1977 E29 to be anything other than dull and chalky, including 3M one step marine polish wax with a DA polisher, 3M heavy cut polish on an orbital, followed by 3M wax with a DA. Both of which added a touch of sheen closer to a satin vs the previous matte. I started watching Drake's Detailing on Youtube, and followed some of his early advice. I washed with Dawn dish soap to strip waxes (I use a small electric pressure washer with a short wand/gun and a deck brush. Then I wet sanded with Mirka Abralon 2000, then 1000. After that I used Presta Supercut with a wool pad on the rotary. Then switched to a DA with an orange Lake Country correcting pad and Menzerna 400 for final polishing. Then wash again with Dawn. I finished with Jescar Powerlock+ to seal, and then a final coat of Collinite Wax. Very pleased with the results and the longevity of the finish.

I was talking with a local boat detailer and he said the new ceramic coatings are the way to go instead of the Powerlock and Collinite, especially for old gelcoat. So the next time she's due for a polish i'm going to just do the Menzerna with a good ceramic afterwards.

 

[Christian Williams]

April, 2023.

I studied up on boat waxing in 2022 and bought the gear. I found it hard work and my results were not all that grand. I just paid an independent guy $800 to do hull and decks, which took him nearly two full days (the standard charge for that here is now $1200).

Update, March, 2024:

I scrubbed mildew off the deck last week. No wax to be seen, although water still beads a little. The boat was compounded last year, so I'll just rub on some polish. All in all, caring for old gelcoat is an exercise in futility, and I don't know why I bother. No way I am spending $1200 every year. And no way, at my age, I'm doing it myself.

Maybe I'll see what a car waxer would charge to do the deck of a boat, or pick up a guy off the shape-up at Home Depot and hand him my polishers and a few hundred bucks.

 

[Pete the Cat]

I share Christian's experience and attitude. Spent a lot getting a professional who spent a week on my boat and did a nice job. I tried to keep it up but it seems like a losing proposition. Some PO over did it with the polisher and abrasive compounds (a caution to folks doing their own) and I am going to try spraying some gelcoat. I have been coached in the process (color matching, prep and application) by the semi retired SF Bay expert in gelcoat repair--if I had any facility in video editing I would take folks along on that trip. I am at the point where I think I can spray it competently if the weather breaks. Apparently requires much sense of color, chemical reactive mixing, and perfect weather to pull off which is why, according to him, no one does it commercially. I agree with Maine Sails general approach for polishing, though I think you can get along without going through all steps once you get to maintenance mode--and I think you can overdo the compounds easily as my PO did. Back when he was cruising I occasionally met Maine Sail's CS 37 and it literally looked like it has been delivered from a boat show at all times. I think Practical Sailor has improved their testing processes recently (I had been a major critic of their anchor "tests") and they seem to caution against ceramic products on gelcoat. Folks considering them should check that out.