Wet sanding project came out well

W

watson524

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Mar 24, 2008
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29669
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Wanted to post a picture of my wet sanding, compounding, polishing project as it stands now. It can only get better from here.

Thanks to the advice of many nice folks here, I wet sanded our 23 year old Chap with 800, then 1500, then 2500. Now I'm working on the Megs HO compound, then I'll hit it with Buff Magic, and finally Pro Polish. Below is a picture of where it is with the Megs HO which while there may still be some flaws where I didn't want to go nuts with the wet sanding, I think it looks pretty darn good and it'll only get better with the finer compound and then the polish.

thanks everyone!

boatshine.jpg
 
Looks great, good job and you did it without using Poli-Glow!
 
I must say, I'm hoping not to have to wet sand this boat again... it's been 23 years for the first round so I figure even if I have to do a yearly compound with the rotary, that way way way beats wet sanding. But it definitely needed it and I'm glad I took the advice of the nice folks here. And hey, I saved the $1,800 I was quoted for someone to do it and learned some skills while I was at it.
 
I'll second the comment "looks great". Going over the boat by wet sanding with the 3 different grits does take time. How many hours did it take? Don't be total shocked if by this time next year some of the luster is gone. The good thing is that the amount of work required will be much, much less; just a buffing. It's refreshing to see someone take time and pride to bring back the shine.
 
Thanks mandm1200 - I have about 30 hours into it so far I think (hard to say accurately because it's been spread out over 3 weeks with the weather and other things going on) and have to do both compounds and the polish on the port side and stern side and then on the starboard side, I have the Megs HO to do on the front half, then the Buff Magic and then the polish. It's only a 20' boat and it has probably taken me longer than most would take but I had to try a few different things to determine what I actually needed to do and I was going slowly because I had never done anything even remotely close to this before.

Footloose - yep, it's gel coat. White on the bottom (which I didn't do anything with), gray and navy up the sides. The rest are stripes.

Next year aside from any buffing/polishing I have to do, I am contemplating striping it myself since the stripes are pretty bad in spots as far as rubs and peeling. I heard from the place that gave me a quote on the wet sanding that getting off the old striping is the hard part (as far as labor = cost) but I think I can do that myself using the 3M wheel I've read about on here and some heat.
 
Boat looks great, I'm sure you are happy with the hard work and the great results you've got from it.
 
Funny, my husband was cleaning the carpet today and got out of the boat and said "I still think you're crazy for doing all that work, but it does look great!". Yep, I'm glad I did it. Lots of good lessons learned.
 
The boat looks GREAT!

FWIW: I asked an elderly gentleman waxing an old Oldsmobile in KC, Mo., how do you keep the swirl marks out of the wax (the car was black)? He shared with me his secret, corn starch...

Absolute,

"Suckin Sludge & Havin a Gas"
 
Nice job. Wallenpaupack is not my favorite water hold due to the distance of travel but it's a nice lake. I do Boating and Camping at Iron Wood every year or two usually in Mid of Aug.
 
Wow!!! I wish my wife took to buffing and waxing like that. Your husband is a lucky, lucky man.
 
DeeVee - I lived down near Ledgedale growing up and now am about 3 miles "inland" but we still have a slip at a community down there so it's the only lake I've ever known. Iron Wood is a great place! The guy that runs it is super nice. Since I grew up on the lake, I never went out on weekends as a kid so I'm used to nice calm of a midweek evening. Took some friends out on a Saturday in July last year and couldn't believe that people would want to be on those rough waters with all the "crazies" every weekend. LOL! If you get up this way and see the shiny older Chap on the waters, stop by.

FlyWright - I've always been a tom boy which is likely where I get my liking for getting my hands dirty. Other hobbies include working on our old VW Bugs, ammo reloading and generally getting greasy. If only I didn't need my weekday desk job to pay the bills... Some day I'll win the lottery and get to "play" more. Actually, I just like learning new things. Our family friend has a 10 year old boat of similar size that has white gel coat but with a maroon wide gel coat stripe in it that's starting to get chalky. I told him I'd be more than happy to help him sort that out if he wants to learn.
 
I hear ya on weekend with all crazies people out there, too many seat on the bow with their foots dangling while underway on rough water. I used to play security guard when we have "cracker box" racing on the weekends for 7-8 years. I might run to you some day as I do have friends leaves along the lake.
 
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