Rotary Wool Pads and Needed Accessories (boat gelcoat cleanup)?

Been awhile (living in an apartment in the city makes detailing rough) but my parents 02` xstar hull is needing some love. I have a rotary from a few years back that basically never got any use, but never picked up any wools pads for it. I`m leaning towards some Marine 31 compound and polish products to deal with the oxidation, but having never bought wool pads before - what do I actually need?

Was guessing 2-3 compounding and 2-3 polishing pads since they may get gummed up - will they come with backing plates or is that a separate buy? Also shooting for smaller pads as we have some tighter spots to try and get into - are the 6" pads alright in wool?

Basically just wondering where to start on what parts I need to get the rotary setup (I have an HF model that`s brand new and dad has a DeWalt forget the model number, barely used). Backing plates, pads, lock nuts, pad spur, cleaning g solution, etc? I have a whole mess of 5-6.5" foam pads and the hook and loop backing plates, but from what I gather that is not how wool works?

Any info or point to the right how-to thread would be most appreciated, search didn`t turn up exactly what I was looking for. Hoping to get by with just the machine and no wet sanding (picture of the worst area attached) but my DA and some cutting pads didn`t even dent it.

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4 ply wool yarn pad to compound, and a "pad tool spur" to clean built up in the pad as you go. For polishing of gel coat a " lamb`s wool" pad is best. Any aggressive compound and polish may be used, a number of them are marketed.

Boats are not my area but there are some good threads by Mike Phillips on Autogeek Forum regarding the subject. He even teaches a class solely on the subject. I gather a da is not ideal, rotary or forced seem to be the tools of choice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ron Ketcham

4 ply wool yarn pad to compound, and a "pad tool spur" to clean built up in the pad as you go. For polishing of gel coat a " lamb`s wool" pad is best. Any aggressive compound and polish may be used, a number of them are marketed.

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10-4 thanks Ron. Would the pads come with appropriate backing plates/mounting hardware or is that a separate buy usually? Just hoping to land everything we need in one order.


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Start out with something like the Gel Coat Labs All Marine Heavy Cut Compound with a Buff & Shine 7.5 Inch 100% Twisted Wool Cutting Pad ( be careful ) because these pads with this product will do some very fast cutting for you if needed or the maybe use the Gel Coat Labs All Marine Fine Cut Polish with the Buff & Shine 7.5 Inch 50/50 Wool Polishing Pad ( also be careful ) follow up with the Gel Coat Labs All Marine Surface Sealant for protection after your hard work. But your always welcome to call customer service and talk to someone about your job you have to do, BTW you should be using a rotary like the DeWalt that should different speeds when working on the boat. Remember there are many videos and different products to use but I prefer to use Gel Coat Labs on boats ( Gelcoat ). Let us know on what your using and process too.

Standard 7 or 8 inch wool pads mount on the velcro backing plate for rotary buffers that usually are supplied with them. Don`t for get to obtain a pad spur.
keep the speed of the buffer at 1800 rpm or better around 1200 or so. High speed causes the newer abrasives used to break down the amorphous silica used to almost polishing size particle, vs the old abrasives of the past, crystilene silicas.