buffing your boat

[lake lizzard]

my boat has lots of water spots and some minor scratches what is the best material and method to use when buffing gel coat

[Bruky]

i dunno, i wouldnt buff it or do anything like that. just give it a good scrubbin with some soap and elbow grease. there are so many things that go wrong when trying alternative cleaning methods.

[bruttenberg]

vinegar and water for water spots. If that doesn't do it you can use a mild rubbing compound. The rubbing compund will take you some time and effort though. Follow by a good wax of course.

The water/ vinegar 50/50 should work. Also I use ro/di (filtered to the max) water for this mixture. No sense in using tap (hard water) which is what caused the water spots to begin with. Most people don't have access to ro/di but you can use any store bought filtered water. 1 gallon of water is more than enough to spray the entire boat (Supra Launch) down. I use a hand pump pressure sprayer from Home Depot. I keep it in the back of the Jeep and rinse the boat each and every time we pull it out for the day.

[Neognosis]

I just wax water spots away and try not to worry about it, as it's always going to be a losing battle. Same thing with scratches.

Although I did get rid of some minor scratches, and hid some bad scratches real well using this very fine rubbing compound from McGuires (sp?).

[wesgardner]

Heylake lizzard,

Have you seen that car wash stuff advertised that's supposed to not leave spots? I haven't tried it but what the hey....a good coat of wax in the spring and again in the fall should keep your gelcoat in top condition....use your boat cover whenever you can....


Wes

[intotheflats]

Look no further. this is what you want to remove the fine scratches. It is not abrasive and works better than anything I have ever used.(I work on boats for a living)

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&classNum=164&subdeptNum=11201&storeNum=4&productId=72490

[lake lizzard]

thanks for all the info guys very helpful

[TOTALL]

Try "CLR" YOU CAN FIND IT AT WALGREENS.

[Bruky]

if you use a wax, make sure that there is no cleaning agent in it. it will graudually take off your gel coat.