bowgus wrote:
When I got my old beater, A 2-spd buffer was recommended by the marina
where I got it ... very chalky ... or there were detailing people that
would do the work for about $1200. The thing is, all the fittings/rails
need to be removed, as well as the old vinyl striping and so on. I
thought what the heck, I'll just use one of those handy dandy
polishers. Well, I didn't get more than maybe a few feet down the hull
before that polisher burnt out. My experience ... for that first
rubbing compond work, remove all the fittings etc, if you're lucky the
striping will be old and dry and can be gently scraped off, and get
yourself a 2-spd buffer ... they're usually on sale 1/2 price
somewhere. Sure, I only got a one time use out of the buffer. Oh yeah,
if you have any aluminum like I do associated with the rub rails (?), I
suggest rub the area close to that by hand else the buffer picks up the
oxidation from the aluminum ... result ... grey rubbing compound :-(

I will use my hands to polish the area near the fittings and the
aluminum stripes. Thanks a lot.

One thing that I don't understand is the part about not polishing the
vinyl color stripes. Are you referring to the large color
banner/stripe all around many boats for decoration purpose? Did you
get around it using hand polishing instead of the power tool? I was
thinking of polishing the color banner just like the gelcoat. This is
good that you have warned me against this. I appreciate your warning.

I cannot believe that the detailing guys would ask you to remove all
the hardware fittings. If the hardware fittings were mounted on the
boat using something like 3M 5200, we would have a hard time removing
them, right? Is this a common practice? I am asking this just for my
curiosity. I cannot afford $1200 to make my old boat beautiful (that
boat doesn't cost much more than that anyway).

Jay Chan