Gel coat restoration

[ckaluger]

Attached are a couple of photos of the nose of a 1978 Vmate II. My son, with a little help from me is currently restoring the Vmate. While he was recoring the balsa, I began the restoration of the finish. The older Cmates had very thick gel coat and can take the sandpaper. This is my fifth finish redo. In these pics, so far, lite sanding with a DA 220 grit, wet sand 220 grit, wet sand 1000, wet sand 1500. Then I buffed with the wool pad at 1800 RPM using the Mcguiars #67 compound and polish just to see where I am and to give me some inspiration. You can see the very ruff and faded finish in the background. I will redo with 1500, 2000 then the wool pad again, then if the surface scratches are gone, buff at 1800 with Mcguiars marine polish (Black bottle) using a fine foam pad. We will have pictures of the entire project later. We should be on the water by 2nd. week of June.

 

[chrispallen]

Attached are a couple of photos of the nose of a 1978 Vmate II. My son, with a little help from me is currently restoring the Vmate. While he was recoring the balsa, I began the restoration of the finish. The older Cmates had very thick gel coat and can take the sandpaper. This is my fifth finish redo. In these pics, so far, lite sanding with a DA 220 grit, wet sand 220 grit, wet sand 1000, wet sand 1500. Then I buffed with the wool pad at 1800 RPM using the Mcguiars #67 compound and polish just to see where I am and to give me some inspiration. You can see the very ruff and faded finish in the background. I will redo with 1500, 2000 then the wool pad again, then if the surface scratches are gone, buff at 1800 with Mcguiars marine polish (Black bottle) using a fine foam pad. We will have pictures of the entire project later. We should be on the water by 2nd. week of June.

so it looks like the cat is out of the bag on the new project...

 

[ckaluger]

Not quite, we still have a lot sanding before the cat will becshowing it's face.

 

[goingcamping]

I literally just finished the same project on my 82 Baja...washed, then hit with 600 wet sand and then rinsed, then hit 1,500 wet sand, rinsed and then hit it with some 3M rubbing compound and my buffer with fleece pads...took about 10 hours total for the whole boat, but well worth the effort. Turned out looking almost new...man are my shoulders tired!

Look amazing in the sun, these photos do't do it justice.

 

[bdusted440]

looks like my old mate.miss that girl.