Caring for the gelcoat on a 2005 Sea Ray

Hi everyone, I`m in the process of buying a 2005 Sea Ray 390 Motor Yacht. It has a lot of fiberglass! The boat is in very good condition for its age, and the current owner has kept up the gelcoat remarkably well. I`ve had smaller boats before, and must admit I was never very good about polishing/waxing. But with this Sea Ray I want to do my best to keep up the gelcoat. I`ll probably divide it into sections, so if the wife and I do a weekend on the boat I`ll spend a few hours and polish-wax a certain part of it and hopefully can wax the whole thing a couple times over the course of a year.

Does anybody have any recommendations for products or techniques? I have Makita rotary and Porter Cable 7424 polishers. On my cars I use Lake Country purple foamed wool and various foam pads. On cars I tend to use Meguiar`s 105 and 205 polishes when necessary, and Klasse AIO with a Collinite 845 liquid wax topper. I`m thinking the Klasse and Collinite would work well on gelcoat too, but how about the polishing compounds? Should I use one designed for gelcoat, or is that unnecessary? Or could I save time with a 1-step cleaner wax if I`m doing it twice a year?

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Originally Posted by Joel_MD

Hi everyone, I`m in the process of buying a 2005 Sea Ray 390 Motor Yacht. It has a lot of fiberglass! The boat is in very good condition for its age, and the current owner has kept up the gelcoat remarkably well. I`ve had smaller boats before, and must admit I was never very good about polishing/waxing. But with this Sea Ray I want to do my best to keep up the gelcoat. I`ll probably divide it into sections, so if the wife and I do a weekend on the boat I`ll spend a few hours and polish-wax a certain part of it and hopefully can wax the whole thing a couple times over the course of a year.

Does anybody have any recommendations for products or techniques? I have Makita rotary and Porter Cable 7424 polishers. On my cars I use Lake Country purple foamed wool and various foam pads. On cars I tend to use Meguiar`s 105 and 205 polishes when necessary, and Klasse AIO with a Collinite 845 liquid wax topper. I`m thinking the Klasse and Collinite would work well on gelcoat too, but how about the polishing compounds? Should I use one designed for gelcoat, or is that unnecessary? Or could I save time with a 1-step cleaner wax if I`m doing it twice a year?

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Hi Joel,

There are a lot of products you can try and I would suggest taking the same approach used when detailing a car. Try the least aggressive pad and polish/compound first in a test spot and only go more aggressive if necessary. Many car care products also work very well for marine applications. Since the yacht has been well taken care of, the fiberglass may not even need a fast cutting compound at the present time but if you do, a lot of people are using Poorboy`s Master Cut with great results. In fact, one customer in particular (John FN Long Island) is so impressed with the results that he texts me pics often to show off his work. He only uses a rotary and follows up the Master Cut with Polish with Carnauba and the results are impressive. The main reason that John loves this combo so much is the fact they are sun-friendly formulas that are really easy to use.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/attach...id=30928&stc=1http://www.autopia.org/forums/attach...id=30929&stc=1

Good luck with whatever you choose and enjoy your Sea Ray!

I second Poorboy`s products. I have polished two boats and it was right when I was getting started. I used pws and my duetto on this one. I believe it was a tangerine hydro tech pad too. Maybe that will help some.

Poorboy`s is the only product I`d consider using on a boat because the only boats I ever get called for are outside.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/the-de...o-vs-boat.html

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I`ve been very pleased with the Marine 31 products I`ve been using on a few boats (including my own)

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Originally Posted by House of Wax

I`ve been very pleased with the Marine 31 products I`ve been using on a few boats (including my own)

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Same for me. I really like the Marine 31 products. I have been using them on my boat since they were released with great results.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

If its shiny and minimal haze and white...Rotary, wool, megs diamond cut and megs 66 by hand...If its real good, 66 by hand. The 66 will last 4-6 weeks at the Jersey Shore depending on weather etc. It will recoat easy, sun friendly. Don`t knock it till you try it.