Well Mike, I spent the wkd polishing the boat, and I came out of it with some new opinions. I spent most of the time on the transom and swim platforms, but I migrated up to the cabin deck for a while too.
I bought a 5" backing plate and 2 white, 6.5" inch foam pads for the 7424. My neighbor also picked up some orange pads. They were larger: I think they were 7 or 8's.
The hook and loop setup eliminates the unnecessary wear on the pads. I was able to keep the machine on high as long as my hands could stand it, and the new pads showed no wear.
I never bothered with the glue-and-hub pads again. They'll go in the trash.
Thinking that I needed more aggression for the grit-style non-skid on the platforms, I swapped the 7424 with a Vector 236 rotary and used a wool pad with a heavy duty compound. It was a disaster. The compound just caked into the non-skid and made a mess. After 2 square feet, I went back to the 7424 and white pad. Although I had some oxidation, I used Finesse-It II. It worked so well that it was FUN. The platforms look new and I found myself giving it a second pass just because so little effort had produced such impressive results.
I've never been able to get all of the non-skid looking good at the same time (I've always done it by hand). I'm looking forward to hitting the side desks now.
The transom itself was a learning experience. It's always been in pretty good shape, but it didn't have the mirror finish that I want. I put a polishing bonnet on the 236 and used Finesse-It II. The mirror finish came out easily and I was even able to work around the decal letters of the name without damaging them. What I couldn't do was get too close to the snaps, where the female snaps on the canvas have scratched up the gelcoat. I went back to the 7424 so I could edge right up to the snaps without worrying about burning the surface or smudging everything up by rubbing the metal. That worked, but this is where it got interesting:
When I stood back and looked in direct light, the area that I had detailed with the 7424, Finesse-It and a clean white pad had LOST some luster. I knew better than to expect the 7424 to restore really rough surfaces, but I didn't expect that it would ever REDUCE shine.
I'm still scratching my head a little on that one.
The 7424 redeemed itself again up on the cabin top, which is a molded-in non-skid. I used a slightly damp orange pad and Buff Magic, and it went on and off easily without caking or getting stuck in the crevices. The larger pads are also convenient for getting into concave corners and bends. I put some compound on the edge of the pad and was able to get almost everywhere without resorting to working it by hand.
I bought a 5" backing plate and 2 white, 6.5" inch foam pads for the 7424. My neighbor also picked up some orange pads. They were larger: I think they were 7 or 8's.
The hook and loop setup eliminates the unnecessary wear on the pads. I was able to keep the machine on high as long as my hands could stand it, and the new pads showed no wear.
I never bothered with the glue-and-hub pads again. They'll go in the trash.
Thinking that I needed more aggression for the grit-style non-skid on the platforms, I swapped the 7424 with a Vector 236 rotary and used a wool pad with a heavy duty compound. It was a disaster. The compound just caked into the non-skid and made a mess. After 2 square feet, I went back to the 7424 and white pad. Although I had some oxidation, I used Finesse-It II. It worked so well that it was FUN. The platforms look new and I found myself giving it a second pass just because so little effort had produced such impressive results.
I've never been able to get all of the non-skid looking good at the same time (I've always done it by hand). I'm looking forward to hitting the side desks now.
The transom itself was a learning experience. It's always been in pretty good shape, but it didn't have the mirror finish that I want. I put a polishing bonnet on the 236 and used Finesse-It II. The mirror finish came out easily and I was even able to work around the decal letters of the name without damaging them. What I couldn't do was get too close to the snaps, where the female snaps on the canvas have scratched up the gelcoat. I went back to the 7424 so I could edge right up to the snaps without worrying about burning the surface or smudging everything up by rubbing the metal. That worked, but this is where it got interesting:
When I stood back and looked in direct light, the area that I had detailed with the 7424, Finesse-It and a clean white pad had LOST some luster. I knew better than to expect the 7424 to restore really rough surfaces, but I didn't expect that it would ever REDUCE shine.
I'm still scratching my head a little on that one.
The 7424 redeemed itself again up on the cabin top, which is a molded-in non-skid. I used a slightly damp orange pad and Buff Magic, and it went on and off easily without caking or getting stuck in the crevices. The larger pads are also convenient for getting into concave corners and bends. I put some compound on the edge of the pad and was able to get almost everywhere without resorting to working it by hand.
I think the winter is starting to get to me.