Resurrecting Beauty

[Brandon_SC]

Long story short... last year my wife and I purchased a neglected SX230. The engines had been mechanically maintained with 200 hrs on them. No issues there! The neglectful part was the upholstery and exterior. The original owners kept it wet slipped from April to October every season, and it appeared to never have been bottom cleaned or waxed. First order of business was to replace the plastic scupper. Then we purchased a full Seadek kit, which we are waiting until the upholstery is completed to install. The oxidized bright blue gelcoat was killing me... $500 worth of spectrum pastes, polishers, compounds, polishes, sander and sanding pads/paper later... she’s looking better!

 

[Seadeals]

Looking good. Now that took some serious elbow grease!

 

[Speedling]

What would you say really got the oxidization off?
And which one made it shiniest?
I really need to brighten up my boat.

 

[Scottintexas]

looking good! I need to brighten my boat up also, check out the list of known issues in my signature line,

 

[Brandon_SC]

@Speedling if you have the rough feeling type of oxidation, then wet sanding starting with P600 grit on an orbital sander is a good start to see a difference. Follow up with a P800 wet sand, then a heavy cutting compound with a wool compounding pad on a polisher. Then apply polish using a polishing pad on a polisher. The compounding and the polishing by themselves both really make the gelcoat shine. I used 3M’s products on this project.

*if you do decide to sand, just be careful at the nose/bow of the boat. It’s best to hand sand there because the gelcoat is a lot thinner at that area.

 

[sethman919]

Looking good!. glad i didnt have to do that much work to mine.

 

[Brandon_SC]

I did try compounding first before sanding. With oxidation that was this bad, I ended up starting at P220, then a P360 Abralon pad, P600 sandpaper, then P800 sanding mesh. All were done using an orbital sander.

 

[Speedling]

https://www.portercable.com/product-repository/products-portercable/2018/01/26/20/53/382
got this in the garage. You saying you sanded with that thing?! I would think it would destroy the hull asap and create flat spots!
Perhaps some sort of buffing attachment?
My boat has more of that white film stuff going on and I am hoping it gets back up to a good shine if I can get rid of it.
So since you guys are experts... where do you suggest starting?
Also, wouldn't anything abrasive screw up the graphics?
Or is that why you eliminated them?

 

[Speedling]

https://www.best-auto-detailing-tips.com/boat-buffer.html
Found this, kinda cool and good info, but still... I own the porter cable orbital.

 

[Speedling]

From what I'm reading, the orbital has way too fast of a speed. Still researching. Harbor Freight sometimes has one cheap that may or may not last the length of polishing my boat.

 

[Brandon_SC]

Even hand sanding without a sanding block can create waves in the gelcoat. I used a dewalt orbital sander, and it worked fine as long as the proper grits were being used and water was being applied while sanding. Many areas of the boat have to be hand sanded due to curvature. I hated the old graphics, so they were going away from the beginning.

 

[zipper]

https://www.best-auto-detailing-tips.com/boat-buffer.html
Found this, kinda cool and good info, but still... I own the porter cable orbital.

I used these products and bought the orbital. A rotary with a wool pad will cut the oxidation quicker. I hand wetsanded with 1000 and then 2000 3m paper. If I were to do it again I might try 800 lightly to knock off the oxidation and then the higher #s to follow. The graphics will be in the way of a good job. Mine were beat up anyway. Mine was oxidized, but not as badly as @Brandon_SC , blue hull.

 

[Jgorm]

Subscribed. Looks good! I'll be attempting something similar in my 04.
What grit would you guys recommend starting with?

 

[zipper]

Subscribed. Looks good! I'll be attempting something similar in my 04. View attachment 72857
What grit would you guys recommend starting with?

Try a small section first, say 2 ft. sq. with 800 wet using only circular motion by hand. Then use 1000 and 2000, heavy cut oxidation remover, polishing compound then wax. If you are using a sander, I would try the 1000 grit first. This is just one opinion. Others have had great success using other products and techniques.

 

[swatski]

Long story short... last year my wife and I purchased a neglected SX230. The engines had been mechanically maintained with 200 hrs on them. No issues there! The neglectful part was the upholstery and exterior. The original owners kept it wet slipped from April to October every season, and it appeared to never have been bottom cleaned or waxed. First order of business was to replace the plastic scupper. Then we purchased a full Seadek kit, which we are waiting until the upholstery is completed to install. The oxidized bright blue gelcoat was killing me... $500 worth of spectrum pastes, polishers, compounds, polishes, sander and sanding pads/paper later... she’s looking better!

Man, I love this. What a great project and the results!

--

 

[Brandon_SC]

@swatski Thanks!

 

[zipper]

Man, I love this. What a great project and the results!

--

I'll second that, what you did is beautiful.

 

[Brandon_SC]

@zipper Thanks!

 

[Brandon_SC]

Today I installed the full Seadek kit from @JetBoatPilot
Mocha over black brushed faux teak. Very happy with it... looking forward to getting it wet tomorrow!
Next projects are upholstery & Simrad install.

 

[JetBoatPilot]

Looks good!!