Gel Coat Maintenance

[slangley]

During the prefit of the side-pods I noticed little scratches in the gel coat. I have a blue body and you can see light blue from the scratch.

Is there a way to buff these out? What's the best way to maintain the gel coat?

[MattYorke]

I'd probably recommend a boat polish as it's designed for gelcoat.

[Ikom]

slangley said:

During the prefit of the side-pods I noticed little scratches in the gel coat. I have a blue body and you can see light blue from the scratch. Is there a way to buff these out? What's the best way to maintain the gel coat?

Meguiars makes a very good product called "premium flagship wax" for marine applications - apparently formulated specifically for gelcoat finishes.

www.meguiars.com/ (and search for Flagship wax)

Also check out Collinite, they make fibreglass specific waxes as well, for marine/gelcoat finishes.

www.collinite.com/marine.htm

I cannot help on the scratches but on my Porsches I use 3M #09 (last two digits) Swirl remover with their proprietary "Perfect it" convoluted foam applicator pad (part # 05725) on a polisher at no more than 1500RPM. It makes the finish as smooth as glass and is not aggressive enough to hurt the finish. Removes all minor swirl marks and spider webbing.

http://multimedia.mmm.com/mws/mediawebserver.dyn?kkkkkkU6cwzkEOlkYOlkkkDnAWflnOlO-

Hope this helps.

[steve_D]

slangley said:

....I have a blue body and you can see light blue from the scratch......

The light blue is probably a mix of the gelcoat blue and cutting paste. There will not be another blue underneath which is where I think you were headed.
Steve

[slangley]

steve_D said:

The light blue is probably a mix of the gelcoat blue and cutting paste. There will not be another blue underneath which is where I think you were headed. Steve

Does this mean the gel coat is extremely thin in those areas?

[steve_D]

slangley said:

steve_D said: The light blue is probably a mix of the gelcoat blue and cutting paste. There will not be another blue underneath which is where I think you were headed. Steve Does this mean the gel coat is extremely thin in those areas?

No, what I'm saying is the scratch, which was not completely buffed out during the body prep, is now sitting there filled with a mix of the blue gel and cutting compound resolting in a light blue shade in the scratch.

It is always possible that there may be a thin area but I did not think that was what you were refering to.

Steve

[jschwartz]

wet sand with 1500 grit and buff, it'll be like new.
jeff

[ultimarobert]

What do you do about a "star" in the gel coat. Unfortunately one appeared in the curved area between the engine hump and the rear deck. It is not sonoticable until after polishing. I suspect someone pounded it hard while parked.

[steve_D]

ultimarobert said:

What do you do about a "star" in the gel coat. Unfortunately one appeared in the curved area between the engine hump and the rear deck. It is not sonoticable until after polishing. I suspect someone pounded it hard while parked.

Sadly the only way to deal with it properly is to grind out all the gel coat in the star and re-gel.
Not a task for the faint hearted or someone like me who cannot do body/paint work to save my life.
Steve