Will this buff out of hull... or?

[knoxboatin]

Last year I think we dragged across a submerged tree or something when we ventured out in the dirty Tennessee river after hurricane Helene. I have not done much maintenance to this hull in the 4 years we have had the boat other than cleaning, bought new in 2021. Does this look like something I could buff out with some compound and polishing wheel? Or am I through the color layer and have to get gel-coat or something to restore it? I have never worked with gel-coat or fiberglass finishes so any tips on what to try first are appreciated.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Is that the fork lift arms????

 

[knoxboatin]

Yeah it's in the air by the dry storage in the picture. The drivers are really good though and the scratches appeared all at once and I heard it happen. So I don't believe it has anything to do with dry storage fork-lifting. The arms are not as beat up on the top.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Yeah it's in the air by the dry storage in the picture. The drivers are really good though and the scratches appeared all at once and I heard it happen. So I don't believe it has anything to do with dry storage fork-lifting. The arms are not as beat up on the top.

Well when I first looked at the pic I that gouge was on your boat LOL!

As far as your scratches go, itll depend on how deep they are, the gel coat is pretty thick on the bottom of the boat.. at first glance I thought those may buff out. You could get a polishing wheel and use a light cut and see if they will come out..

 

[knoxboatin]

HAHA wow I did not realize, guess I should have called that out. Thanks for the tip, I'm hoping it rubs out but I'm much more familiar with regular paints like on auto or guitar bodies and know how they respond. The gel coat concept is new to me and I don't want to screw it up worse than I am starting with.

 

[Madman]

Looks like most of that would polish out. I’d leave that there as reminder and not do anything until something serious happens. Once you’re over 60, you don’t crawl under your boat without a damn good reason! But then again, I have a KeelGuard on my to-do list that isn’t going to self-install….

 

[drewkaree]

But then again, I have a KeelGuard on my to-do list that isn’t going to self-install….

I have a kitchen sink that self-washes the dishes I put in them, although my wife rolls her eyes when I tell her that this happens. I don't think she believes me. Maybe if you buy the keel guard, and just leave it on the kitchen counter, something similar will happen. Those places are filled with magic and sorcery, that's why I try to leave it to my wife.

I forget who all has some serious experience on here, so if I accidentally tagged someone, sorry. I'm old and forgetful Hopefully some of these guys are the correct people to give you some great advice. To my eye, those seem like they should be able to be buffed out, and it sounds like you've got the tools and some experience - but that experience you mentioned WILL translate to this. I don't know squat about auto paint and whatnot, and I was able to do several unfortunate patch jobs to my boat. So easy, even a drewkaree can do it1

@suke
@MrBubbaGump
@mrcleanr6

 

[Madman]

It really depends on your expectations. I’d start with the least aggressive approach first and then evaluate your next steps. I’d start with a medium fine compound, which I think will remove the appearance of the white scratches and the majority of the damage. If you’re satisfied with that, follow up with a finer grit of compound and light wax. I think doing that will take care of 90% of the damage and you won’t even see the remains imperfections unless you get down on the ground to look at. To fix the last 10%, you’d need to lightly sand the gel coat to remove the scratches, followed by compound.

I had similar scratches on my old boat. I started by lightly wet sanding the area with 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I then used Festool’s polishing system with a foam pad. Their system is color coated, meaning you match the compound to the pad, starting with the most aggressive compound/pad and finish up with finest compound/pad. There are many systems that are far cheaper, but I used Festool’s since I already owned the sander/polisher.

 

[drewkaree]

It really depends on your expectations. I’d start with the least aggressive approach first and then evaluate your next steps. I’d start with a medium fine compound, which I think will remove the appearance of the white scratches and the majority of the damage. If you’re satisfied with that, follow up with a finer grit of compound and light wax. I think doing that will take care of 90% of the damage and you won’t even see the remains imperfections unless you get down on the ground to look at. To fix the last 10%, you’d need to lightly sand the gel coat to remove the scratches, followed by compound.

I had similar scratches on my old boat. I started by lightly wet sanding the area with 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I then used Festool’s polishing system with a foam pad. Their system is color coated, meaning you match the compound to the pad, starting with the most aggressive compound/pad and finish up with finest compound/pad. There are many systems that are far cheaper, but I used Festool’s since I already owned the sander/polisher.

Is that the Rotax you're referring to? I've got the 150, and am considering the 90, but not for boat purposes. I have an older Porter Cable DA. Wondering if you're using the 120 or 90, and if so, what are your thoughts.

@knoxboatin sanding your boat sounds scary, but @Madman is correct that after sanding with the correct grit, compound is the next step, and it's an instant return to at least a decent shine.

 

[Madman]

Is that the Rotax you're referring to? I've got the 150, and am considering the 90, but not for boat purposes. I have an older Porter Cable DA. Wondering if you're using the 120 or 90, and if so, what are your thoughts.

@knoxboatin sanding your boat sounds scary, but @Madman is correct that after sanding with the correct grit, compound is the next step, and it's an instant return to at least a decent shine.

I have the FEQ 125 RO with a 6” pad (they don’t make a 5”). The 90 would be perfect in a situations like this where your’re focusing on corrections in a smaller, isolated areas. The 150 would be perfect for the large areas. Having both would be perfect! Just be careful with the products you use. You don’t want to contaminate your tools with silicone and waxes.

 

[knoxboatin]

So I guess I need a new specialized tool based on this discussion. Disc attachment for the battery powered drill might not be the best option. Doing some more research but this gives me hope I can polish it out. It does not have to be perfect, I'm just trying to be a good steward of a hull that is only 4 years old.

 

[Madman]

So I guess I need a new specialized tool based on this discussion. Disc attachment for the battery powered drill might not be the best option. Doing some more research but this gives me hope I can polish it out. It does not have to be perfect, I'm just trying to be a good steward of a hull that is only 4 years old.

You might trying reaching out to a local body shop or detailer. Just let them know what you expect. It shouldn’t cost that much and then you don’t have to crawl under there!

 

[drewkaree]

So I guess I need a new specialized tool based on this discussion. Disc attachment for the battery powered drill might not be the best option. Doing some more research but this gives me hope I can polish it out. It does not have to be perfect, I'm just trying to be a good steward of a hull that is only 4 years old.

To be fair, no you really don't need a new tool, if you have something that will work for now. I know that what you have isn't ideal, but it CAN work.

You can Harbor Freight the tools if money is tight or you're concerned about your skills and possibly tackling this yourself. I like to buy once, cry once, but that's not always realistic. The Harbor Freight Bauer stuff seems to be fairly decent, if you go that route. If that's what you decide, I'd hit them up soon, as May seems to be looming for price increases on Chinese stuff. The bottom line is, you should be able to do a passable job with what you've got, but you may have more effort required to get an end result you'll be happy with. Your attitude is a great one, and points to what you currently have for tools as being acceptable. That may be a "for now" thing when you're done with this job, but there's no way to know unless you try, right?

 

[suke]

I have a kitchen sink that self-washes the dishes I put in them, although my wife rolls her eyes when I tell her that this happens. I don't think she believes me. Maybe if you buy the keel guard, and just leave it on the kitchen counter, something similar will happen. Those places are filled with magic and sorcery, that's why I try to leave it to my wife.

I forget who all has some serious experience on here, so if I accidentally tagged someone, sorry. I'm old and forgetful Hopefully some of these guys are the correct people to give you some great advice. To my eye, those seem like they should be able to be buffed out, and it sounds like you've got the tools and some experience - but that experience you mentioned WILL translate to this. I don't know squat about auto paint and whatnot, and I was able to do several unfortunate patch jobs to my boat. So easy, even a drewkaree can do it1

@suke
@MrBubbaGump
@mrcleanr6

LOL! Looks like everyone has this largely covered. However, there's an easy way to see if it'll buff out. Can you catch your thumbnail in the scratches? If so there's near certainty you'll need something to fill those scratches. I'd recommend getting the right polishers to do the job, but that's just me. I tend to be a little picky since I've been doing this kinda stuff for more than 20 years.