Jim wrote:
wrote:
I am thinking of getting a power tool to help me to polish/wax the
gelcoat of my 18-ft boat (it is quite dull). I really don't want to do
this by hands based on my experience of polishing/waxing my car that is
smaller than the boat. I would like to know the right power tool to do
this.

Based on past posts in newsgroup, people seems to use a rotary polisher
to polish/wax their boats. It is like the Makita sander/polisher. But
we must use it very carefully. If we stay in one place for too long,
it may remove too much gelcoat.

I am also thinking of using a random orbital polisher such as
Porter-Cable 7424. It is supposed to be safer to use around gelcoat or
painted surface (like on a car body). But past posts seemed to say
that it is not effective for restoring dull gelcoat. All these get me
confused.

My questions a
Confusing.

I would only use a "random orbit polisher" as a light duty tool. You
want to do some real polishing, buy a real polisher. Remember that
light duty, regular polishing, requires different tools than heavy duty
polishing of neglected surfaces.
____________________________


My advice:
Go to your local yard, (or the local fire station) and observe. These
guys do a lot of polishing. See what they use.


Don't listen to advice from people who think polishing their car means
sitting in a plastic chair and drinking an expensive coffee drink while
someone else does the work.

Don't fall for the people trying to sell an easy way. Buy the proper
tools and materials.

Yes, the direct-drive rotary polisher must be very powerful and is
probably the right tool for restoring dull gelcoat to shiny. But I
will not be restoring dull getcoat all the time. I am hoping that I
will only need to do this once and don't need to do this for many many
years, and then I will polish the boat regularly to keep it in good
shape. Therefore, I am hoping that the random orbital polisher is
"good enough" for restoring the dull gelcoat even though at a slow
pace. I believe I can live with this -- not expecting to do this often
anyway. And then I can use the random orbital polisher for regular
polishing to maintain the boat in a good shape. I am just trying to
buy one polisher to do dual duties (restoring dull gelcoat, and regular
polishing) instead of buying two polishers.

If I were supposed to polish boats for a living, I would surely get the
best tool for the task. But I am not doing this for a living, I will
have to compromise.

Jay Chan

sorry, but an orbital polisher will not restore the dull gelcoat. they are
just what they say they are, polishers, not buffers. get a good variable
speed buffer, makita, dewalt, or equivalant.

a job like this requires several steps and you can do them all with a
buffer, you just change the pads. depending on just how oxidized it is , you
may get by with a polishing pad, usually yellow in color, and some fine
compound. if not yo need some coarser compound and a cutting pad. once the
oxidation is gone, just switch to a foam polishing pad and a good wax. apply
the wax by hand and hit it with the foam pad. if you really want to get
sexy, put a good glaze on top of the wax and put your sunglasses on, you'll
need em.

i just did a friends 20 foot boat last weekend, and as jim so rightly says,
there aint no easy way to do it unless you pay someone else. took us both
all day and 2 12 pax of pepsi, but it is purdy. best regards, j.d.

"jds" wrote in message
news:enk7g.2393$AB3.285@fed1read02...
sorry, but an orbital polisher will not restore the dull gelcoat. they are
just what they say they are, polishers, not buffers. get a good variable
speed buffer, makita, dewalt, or equivalant.

a job like this requires several steps and you can do them all with a
buffer, you just change the pads. depending on just how oxidized it is ,
you may get by with a polishing pad, usually yellow in color, and some
fine compound. if not yo need some coarser compound and a cutting pad.
once the oxidation is gone, just switch to a foam polishing pad and a good
wax. apply the wax by hand and hit it with the foam pad. if you really
want to get sexy, put a good glaze on top of the wax and put your
sunglasses on, you'll need em.

i just did a friends 20 foot boat last weekend, and as jim so rightly
says, there aint no easy way to do it unless you pay someone else. took us
both all day and 2 12 pax of pepsi, but it is purdy. best regards, j.d.


A word of caution. An aggressive buffer combined with compound - even fine -
can easily burn right through the gelcoat if you are not careful. The
gelcoat is thin on most boats, like the thickness of a dime or less. Any
thicker and it would be prone to excessive cracking.

RCE

RCE wrote:
"jds" wrote in message
news:enk7g.2393$AB3.285@fed1read02...
sorry, but an orbital polisher will not restore the dull gelcoat. they are
just what they say they are, polishers, not buffers. get a good variable
speed buffer, makita, dewalt, or equivalant.

a job like this requires several steps and you can do them all with a
buffer, you just change the pads. depending on just how oxidized it is ,
you may get by with a polishing pad, usually yellow in color, and some
fine compound. if not yo need some coarser compound and a cutting pad.
once the oxidation is gone, just switch to a foam polishing pad and a good
wax. apply the wax by hand and hit it with the foam pad. if you really
want to get sexy, put a good glaze on top of the wax and put your
sunglasses on, you'll need em.

i just did a friends 20 foot boat last weekend, and as jim so rightly
says, there aint no easy way to do it unless you pay someone else. took us
both all day and 2 12 pax of pepsi, but it is purdy. best regards, j.d.


A word of caution. An aggressive buffer combined with compound - even fine -
can easily burn right through the gelcoat if you are not careful. The
gelcoat is thin on most boats, like the thickness of a dime or less. Any
thicker and it would be prone to excessive cracking.

RCE


Buffing a car/boat is not for the average person. It is best left to
the experts.

--
Reggie

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

"Reginald P. Smithers" wrote in message
...
RCE wrote:
"jds" wrote in message
news:enk7g.2393$AB3.285@fed1read02...
sorry, but an orbital polisher will not restore the dull gelcoat. they
are just what they say they are, polishers, not buffers. get a good
variable speed buffer, makita, dewalt, or equivalant.

a job like this requires several steps and you can do them all with a
buffer, you just change the pads. depending on just how oxidized it is ,
you may get by with a polishing pad, usually yellow in color, and some
fine compound. if not yo need some coarser compound and a cutting pad.
once the oxidation is gone, just switch to a foam polishing pad and a
good wax. apply the wax by hand and hit it with the foam pad. if you
really want to get sexy, put a good glaze on top of the wax and put your
sunglasses on, you'll need em.

i just did a friends 20 foot boat last weekend, and as jim so rightly
says, there aint no easy way to do it unless you pay someone else. took
us both all day and 2 12 pax of pepsi, but it is purdy. best regards,
j.d.


A word of caution. An aggressive buffer combined with compound - even
fine - can easily burn right through the gelcoat if you are not careful.
The gelcoat is thin on most boats, like the thickness of a dime or less.
Any thicker and it would be prone to excessive cracking.

RCE
Buffing a car/boat is not for the average person. It is best left to the
experts.

--
Reggie

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Interesting comment Reginald. Would you care to share your definition of an
"average person"?

JIMinFL wrote:
"Reginald P. Smithers" wrote in message
...
RCE wrote:
"jds" wrote in message
news:enk7g.2393$AB3.285@fed1read02...
sorry, but an orbital polisher will not restore the dull gelcoat. they
are just what they say they are, polishers, not buffers. get a good
variable speed buffer, makita, dewalt, or equivalant.

a job like this requires several steps and you can do them all with a
buffer, you just change the pads. depending on just how oxidized it is ,
you may get by with a polishing pad, usually yellow in color, and some
fine compound. if not yo need some coarser compound and a cutting pad.
once the oxidation is gone, just switch to a foam polishing pad and a
good wax. apply the wax by hand and hit it with the foam pad. if you
really want to get sexy, put a good glaze on top of the wax and put your
sunglasses on, you'll need em.

i just did a friends 20 foot boat last weekend, and as jim so rightly
says, there aint no easy way to do it unless you pay someone else. took
us both all day and 2 12 pax of pepsi, but it is purdy. best regards,
j.d.

A word of caution. An aggressive buffer combined with compound - even
fine - can easily burn right through the gelcoat if you are not careful.
The gelcoat is thin on most boats, like the thickness of a dime or less.
Any thicker and it would be prone to excessive cracking.

RCE
Buffing a car/boat is not for the average person. It is best left to the
experts.

--
Reggie

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Interesting comment Reginald. Would you care to share your definition of an
"average person"?



FlaJim,

Feel free to call me Reggie.

By "average person", I mean someone who has not been shown how to
correctly use a buffer, the different buffer pads and the different
compounds. It is very easy to burn through the clear coat or the gel
coat or just have a car that is full of obvious swirl marks.

A buffer used incorrectly can cause more problems then it solves.

http://www.automotivedetailing.com/a...ed_buffers.htm


--
Reggie

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

"Reginald P. Smithers" wrote in message
...
JIMinFL wrote:
"Reginald P. Smithers" wrote in message
...
RCE wrote:
"jds" wrote in message
news:enk7g.2393$AB3.285@fed1read02...
sorry, but an orbital polisher will not restore the dull gelcoat. they
are just what they say they are, polishers, not buffers. get a good
variable speed buffer, makita, dewalt, or equivalant.

a job like this requires several steps and you can do them all with a
buffer, you just change the pads. depending on just how oxidized it is
, you may get by with a polishing pad, usually yellow in color, and
some fine compound. if not yo need some coarser compound and a cutting
pad. once the oxidation is gone, just switch to a foam polishing pad
and a good wax. apply the wax by hand and hit it with the foam pad. if
you really want to get sexy, put a good glaze on top of the wax and
put your sunglasses on, you'll need em.

i just did a friends 20 foot boat last weekend, and as jim so rightly
says, there aint no easy way to do it unless you pay someone else.
took us both all day and 2 12 pax of pepsi, but it is purdy. best
regards, j.d.

A word of caution. An aggressive buffer combined with compound - even
fine - can easily burn right through the gelcoat if you are not
careful. The gelcoat is thin on most boats, like the thickness of a
dime or less. Any thicker and it would be prone to excessive cracking.

RCE
Buffing a car/boat is not for the average person. It is best left to
the experts.

--
Reggie

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Interesting comment Reginald. Would you care to share your definition of
an "average person"?

FlaJim,

Feel free to call me Reggie.

By "average person", I mean someone who has not been shown how to
correctly use a buffer, the different buffer pads and the different
compounds. It is very easy to burn through the clear coat or the gel coat
or just have a car that is full of obvious swirl marks.

A buffer used incorrectly can cause more problems then it solves.


http://www.automotivedetailing.com/a...ed_buffers.htm


--
Reggie

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Now I get it. When you say average, you really mean inexperienced.