First boat detail...HELP!

[Jpostal]

I operate a mobile car and truck detailing business near Vancouver, BC and was asked by one of my customers if I could detail his boat. I told him I have never detailed a boat before, but I would stop by and take a look at it. What my customer did not tell me on the phone is that he bought/inherited the boat from an estate and it had been left outside and uncovered under a tree for a long, long time. Every part of this boat is nasty, nasty, nasty. After repeatedly telling him I had never done a boat before he still wanted me to give it a shot so I told him I would try...after all, I can't make it look any worse!



I spent 3 hours yesterday pressure washing the mud and dirt out of the carpet before I could run my extractor over it, but it actually turned out great. On Saturday I have to go back and do the rest of the interior/vinyl and polish the exterior which is what I need help with.



Fist of all, the vinyl is stained beyond repair and he does not want to dye it. I worked on one panel for about an hour trying different things including vinyl cleaner, spray 9, steam, and good old fashioned elbow grease. The customer was happy with the results but I was not...anyone know of a good vinyl cleaning method?



Polishing. The entire boat is heavily oxidized and looks to be beyond repair but I did a little test spot on the boat using my rotary and a wool pad with some AutoMagic 110 Power Cut Plus and it actually shined up a quite a bit. My concern is that it is a blue boat and after polishing there was blue on my wool pad...is this normal with a heavily oxidized gelcoat or did I actually burn it? I am embarrassed to say that have never worked with gel coat and really have no idea how it works or even what it is exactly, but I know it is supposed to be much more durable than clear coat. I guess what I am looking for is some direction...should I wet sand first then hit it with the rotary and wool pad? Can I skip the wetsanding and go straight to the rotary? I also have a PC with a variety of pad. The local mastercraft dealer gave me some marine specific compound to use, but I can not remember the name. Do I need to top it with a finishing product? The customer is not looking for a showroom finish, just something that he does not have to be embarrassed about when it is behind his Armada.



Thanks in advance for your help. I know I will probably have people telling me to not do the job but the customer insists I try. I will try get some before and after pics to get your feedback.

 

[uniquedetailing]

Use clothes bleach on the vinyl, comes out spotless and doesn't harm it

 

[Jpostal]

What ratio should I dilute the bleach?



I found a very useful thread on polishing the gel coat and think I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. I also picked up a bottle of Meguiars "Flagship" marine wax that I plan to use after compounding unless anyone here thinks this is the wrong product to use. My only concern still is the blue that transferred to the pad when doing my test panel...is it normal to have paint(?) transfer when polishing gelcoat?

 

[sb765t]

It's been a *long* time, but as I recall polishing the family's black ski-boat years ago, I did get paint transfer. The color coat that is applied first to the form, and it will wear off. But that layer is *really* thick. 2-3mils, as I recall. So even with heavy compounding, you shouldn't have any issues. Sounds like a real project. I actually like doing the nasty boat details, they're a lot of work, but it's pretty amazing what you can do to turn one around.

 

[VanityDetailing]

Paint transfer is normal.





You'll have to look around for it, but Meguiar's makes a couple products in their "Velocity" line. It's typically used for prepping molds for fiberglass to make them absolutely glass smooth.



Meguiar's Velocity MV80 "Speed Cut Compound" is about the equivalent of liquid 800-grit sandpaper... it's really aggressive, but polishes out really smooth.



Meguiar's Velocity MV81 "Mold Compound" is about the equivalent of liquid 1600-grit sandpaper... WAY less aggressive, and polishes out almost ready for wax.



Meguiar's M66 "Quick Detailer Polish" is a good middle-of-the-road polish/wax combo.



Meguiar's M82 "Swirl Free Polish" is my go-to for most boats.



Meguiar's Flagship Marine Wax is really good stuff, and lasts for quite a while... even against Florida sunshine and saltwater.



Then there's pads... I use Meguiar's W4000 wool polishing pad, W7000 foam cutting pad, W8000 foam polishing pad, W9000 foam finishing pad.



Here's my typical combos:

MV80+W4000, MV81+W7000, M82+W8000, Flagship+W9000 (that's for the worst of the worst boat finishes.)

MV81+W4000, M82+W8000, Flagship+W9000 (most boats)

M66+W8000, Flagship+W9000 (for the boats that only need minor buffing)

M82+W8000, Flagship+W9000 (cleans up the finish, and protects it.)



Hope that helps.

 

[Jpostal]

Thanks for the reply and listing of recommended pad/product combos. I searched all of the local marine supply stores in the area and could not find the products you mentioned. If I enjoy working on this boat I may order some proper supplies and offer boat detailing in addition to auto detailing.



It seems like there may be more money in boats if you can figure out how to work them. I decided to charge a flat hourly rate of $40 an hour for polishing on this boat because I have no idea how long it will take. Once I have a couple boats under my belt I guess charging by the foot makes more sense???



Thanks again for the input and advice.

 

[VanityDetailing]

I always charge by the foot, but your clients may vary.



That way, neither party feels cheated. If I charge, say $15/foot, for full compounding and buffing, and to clean all the brightwork, then it's not unreasonable to assume that it's going to take a couple days on say, a 45' boat. But if I tell them it's $40/hour, you can be damn sure that the boat owner will be sitting there with a clock, watching over you like a hawk. Especially when it gets into the 3rd or 4th day.

 

[Jpostal]

I did the boat detail today using the products I could find locally on short notice. The owner acquired the boat with the intention of flipping it for a profit so he was not looking for a perfect finish...just something presentable. The boat had been sitting outside under a tree and uncovered for about 5 years and needed a lot of work. I ended up using a fairly aggressive automotive cut polish on my Makita rotary with with a wool pad. After polishing my second and last step was applying Megs Flagship Marine polish/wax/sealant with my PC and orange pad. Because I was charging by the hour and all the owner really wanted was a glossy finish on a budget I worked fairly quickly and had the exterior finished up in about 5 hours. I could probably do the same half *** job in about 4 hours now that I have a little experience on gelcoat. The end result was not acceptable to me, but my customer was happy and I got paid.



I had my helper working the interior which took about the same amount of time...5 hours or so. The vinyl seats were beyond gone but we managed to clean them up ok by first steaming them, then spraying them with Spray Nine and scrubbing them with a scrub brush. On the more stubborn stains we scrubbed the seats with Gojo hand cleaner with pumice...probably really bad for the vinyl, but it cleaned em up pretty good.

 

[VanityDetailing]

I did the boat detail today using the products I could find locally on short notice. The owner acquired the boat with the intention of flipping it for a profit so he was not looking for a perfect finish...just something presentable. The boat had been sitting outside under a tree and uncovered for about 5 years and needed a lot of work. I ended up using a fairly aggressive automotive cut polish on my Makita rotary with with a wool pad. After polishing my second and last step was applying Megs Flagship Marine polish/wax/sealant with my PC and orange pad. Because I was charging by the hour and all the owner really wanted was a glossy finish on a budget I worked fairly quickly and had the exterior finished up in about 5 hours. I could probably do the same half *** job in about 4 hours now that I have a little experience on gelcoat. The end result was not acceptable to me, but my customer was happy and I got paid.



I had my helper working the interior which took about the same amount of time...5 hours or so. The vinyl seats were beyond gone but we managed to clean them up ok by first steaming them, then spraying them with Spray Nine and scrubbing them with a scrub brush. On the more stubborn stains we scrubbed the seats with Gojo hand cleaner with pumice...probably really bad for the vinyl, but it cleaned em up pretty good.

Pretty decent turnaround! Tide works well on those seats, too.