Re: *NEW* Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax
 

I would give the WOOL pad a try. If that doesn't cut it (pun intended) you might want to consider switching to a different tool - a rotary polisher.

Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax paired with a rotary polisher equipped with a wool pad is capable of removing some pretty nasty oxidation and staining.

If you don't want to invest in a new machine, consider borrowing one from a friend.

Re: *NEW* Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax
 

I have a rotary machine now. I just don't like using it much. I guess I can give it a try with wool pads on the rotary and give it a whirl.

Re: *NEW* Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax
 

Post some full sun pics so we can get a good idea what your working with.

Re: *NEW* Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax
 

I'll definitely post some pics. But I always find it hard to capture in a photo what I see with the naked eye. It seems that everything looks better in pictures.

Honestly the finish is not bad. And I have to admit I was impressed with the results from this cleaner/wax AIO product. I can imagine getting my whole boat done in one very long day or two reasonable length days over a weekend which is amazing.

When I bought the boat in 2010 I had it professionally buffed/waxed and those guys made it look awesome. I've never been able to get it back to that look on my own since then...

Re: *NEW* Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax
 

With wool pads, the key to making it easy to buff is to clean your pads often using a steel pad cleaning spur and this is especially true when buffing oxidized gel-coats.

When buffing oxidized gel-coats you have two things building up on the face of the pad,

1. Oxidized gel-coat

2. Spent or used-up compound and polish residues

If you don't clean this gunk off the face of the buffing pad after buffing each section or so it will make buffing new of fresh product more difficult. You'll find the buffing pad will tend to grab the gel-coat surface and jerk you around or try to hop around, called buffer hop.

Clean the pad often and this will dramatically reduce these characteristics.


Also, if you don't clean your pad to other unwanted things happen...

1. You dilute the strength of the fresh product because you're mixing it with used-up or spent product.

2. You're going to get tired faster as the residue you leave behind on the surface becomes more gummy and thus harder to wipe off.

Not sure where you live but last Thursday we did a rotary buffer only buff-out on a 1990 Corvette using compounds and polishes. While this is not a boat, I did go over a lot of tips and techniques for how to use a rotary buffer and these same tips and technique apply to using a rotary buffer on a boat.


1990 Corvette - Extreme Makeover Pictures & Process


http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...illips_033.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...illips_034.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...illips_036.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...illips_037.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...illips_038.jpg


:thumb:

Re: *NEW* Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax
 

If your going to use the griots machine try getting the blue hybrid wool pads. You can polish once with the wool and the go over again with the foam. I usually run on speed 5 and have had great results doing four thatched passes, wiping off and going at it again with foam.

Re: *NEW* Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax
 

I was thinking of doing something like that...then I realized if I'm going to do two passes over everything, I may as well use my rotary with a proper wool pad and a straight up compound then come back around with polish/wax.

Re: *NEW* Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax
 

Any pics of your work Interactive?

Re: *NEW* Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax
 

I never took any pics after I cleaned up in the spring. The finish is still looking pretty good and cleaning up well. I'm thinking of going over the most exposed areas again as a preventative measure.

Re: *NEW* Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax
 

And just to note...

The Griot's dual action polisher comes stock with a 6" backing plate. The Lake Country Blue Hybrid Pads are 6" in diameter. So be careful that you don't gouge the edge of the backing plate into anything when buffing.

With a 5" backing plate there's a little extra backing material surrounding the backing plate.


:)