13 yr old oxidized Sea Ray

**pechols1967** · 05-02-2010, 09:11 PM

Hey guys, I`m new to this site and need a little advice on restoring the shine on this boat. I have done a couple of bots before and never had a problem but this on kicked my butt. The boat is heavy oxidized. This is what i did tell me where i went wrong. Let me say one side turned out decent but still showed some light oxidation the other side looked like crap and still had some pretty dood oxidation. I dont have any picts. 1st I wet sanded with a Hutchins d/a and 3m 800 grit stepped down to 1000 then 1500. 2nd buffed with a Makita orbital buffer and 3m super cut wool pad and 3m super cut compound then hand glazed then waxed with Meguires gold class wax. Like i said the results were not bad but disappointing. Let me say this was a 48` boat and I killed my self for 4 days. some what dissappointed. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

**Greg Nichols** · 05-02-2010, 11:14 PM

You have to have some photos. If you sanded like you say, you should have removed the oxidation.

Cheers,

GREG

**yachtfisher** · 05-03-2010, 06:49 AM

Lots of work no doubt !!

With the wetsanding you did I would think it could turn out good to great.

I`m not a fan of the superduty compound.

What type of issues left you feeling it was just allright ?

got some pictures ?

**krzemienr** · 05-05-2010, 02:49 PM

Are you sure sure there was oxidation left behind? OR was the finish kind of "blotchy" or "spotty" where it was shiny in one are and not in others? Kind of like this boat:

What you encountered could be dried gel coat. Gel coats are very porous, and over the years, if not waxed and cleaned regularly, those pores open up (much more then car paint/clearcoat). What you see in this pic is how unevenly the boat soaked up the glaze. It was 24 year old boat that has never been detailed. Using a compound on this kind of finish is extremely difficult to work with. You mentioned that you wet sanded the boat, but only one side came out looking a lot better, did you rush for time on the other side? It could have been that you just didn`t sand through the damaged layer enough and the gel coat soaked up everything you threw at it unevenly. It could have also been because of how the boat was stored, and sun was hitting that side lot more and for a longer period of time then the other, thus causing more damage. Next time you are faced with this problem. Try taking a pure polish, or glaze, something that has a high oil content. Feed the gel coat first, then try your compound and polish after that. It will be a ton easier to work with. Again I`m not sure what the problem was without any pics.

Rafal

**pechols1967** · 05-12-2010, 08:54 PM

Sorry I didnt take any pictures of the boat but I will for sure take photos of the next on do. Yes,it did look alot like the boat in your picture but not as bad. I do know that the side that didnt come out as good was the side that was exposed to the sun more than the other side. I definately didnt rush the bad sice if anything I worked on it alot more.When I hand glazed the bad side it left a tan film( the color of the hand glaze) on the boat that wouldnt wipe off, I had to re compound to remove it. What you said makes great sense. Thankyou for your help. I possibly have several more boats to do. What kind of polish or glaze do you recommend that has a high oil content? Thanks again for your help.