36 Sea Ray restoration
 

Here are some pics of my 1983 Sea Ray Aft Cabin. She has been sitting since I left for Afghanistan and since I came back, well, life kept happening. I have finally started to work on her so I thought I would post some pics. So far I have made one pass on the port side with McGuires double sided wool cutting pad and Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy Cut Cleaner.

We start here. I scrubbed the hull with Simple Green Marine Formula to get the "stuff" off.

Attachment 34

Next I started working on the hull to try to find something shiny under there. Here you can see the progress. Quite a difference considering I am just getting started.

Attachment 35

The port side after one pass. I may hit it again but I have a long way to go.

Attachment 36

Ill keep posting the progress. I normally use McGuires everything. So far I like the Marine 31 products.

Re: 36 Sea Ray restoration
 

wow, nice boat vern. tons of work there, but all worth it. looks a lot better with just one pass.:thumb:

Re: 36 Sea Ray restoration
 

Hi Vern,

Thanks for sharing the pictures and progress with your Searay, that's a LOT of boat to buff out!

Here's your pictures, I uploaded them into your free gallery here so they can be inserted instead of attached.

http://www.marine31online.com/galler...Searay_001.jpg

http://www.marine31online.com/galler...Searay_002.jpg

http://www.marine31online.com/galler...Searay_003.jpg


Looking GREAT!


:thumb:

Re: 36 Sea Ray restoration
 

Thanks for the help Mike.

When applying product to a wool pad do you "prime" the pad and then apply a circle? Dime size spots?
It takes a lot of product to get a wet layer behind the pad.

Re: 36 Sea Ray restoration
 

For vertical sides, I place a circle of product directly onto the face of the pad.

For heavy oxidation, try working a smaller area and this will make it easier to keep the film of product wet longer. The larger the section you buff the greater the possibility for the film of product on the surface to dry before you can maximize the buffing cycle or potential of the product.

:)

Re: 36 Sea Ray restoration
 

From the recent wetsanding project.....

How to wetsand, cut and buff a gel-coat boat




Frank
Here's Frank adding fresh product to the face of his pad...

http://www.marine31online.com/galler...t_Boat_022.jpg


By keeping the product more to the center of the pad there's less chance of product sling while you're spreading the product out.



:thumb:

Re: 36 Sea Ray restoration
 

My normal preference and practice is to use the 10 @ 10 Technique. This is kind of hard to do on a boat hull because the sides of the hull taper inward away from you.

If the sides were straight up and down it would work.

The 10 @ 10 technique for picking up a bead of product with a rotary buffer


The 10 @ 10 Technique for picking up a bead of product is a way you can grabbing your product on the fly with your rotary buffer in a way that pulls the product under and into the face of the buffing pad instead of splattering it all over the place.

Some people take their pad and simply spread their product out over the paint with the buffer off and then after spreading it out turn the buffer on and start buffing, this works but can also throw splatter all over the place.

The 10 @ 10 Technique not only works but has a cool factor to it that shows anyone watching that you know how to pick up a bead of product like a Pro.

First of all, the term bead in detailing talk beans a line or strip of product. Just want to make sure everyone understands that term.

To pick up your bead of product using the 10 @ 10 Technique, while holding the rotary buffer in your hands, looking at the back of the buffing pad, pretend it's clock. The top is 12:00 O'clock and going clockwise you have the 1, 2, 3, etc. positions on the buffing pad that would correlate with a clock.

What you want to do is bring the rotary buffer up to speed and then lock the trigger into place so you don't have to hold it in the entire time you're buffing.

Next, place the buffing pad just in front of your bead of product at the 10 O'clock position.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...2/10oclock.jpg

The pad should be spinning but not in contact with the paint.

Lightly touch the buffing pad down so the 3 O'clock position is just making contact with the paint and the 10 O'clock position is raised off the paint about 10 degrees.

Now run the buffing pad over the bead of product from right to left drawing the bead in at the 10 O'clock position. (not the 9 O'clock or 11 O'clock posting but the 10 O'clock position).

Since the pad is rotating clockwise, the bead of product will be pulled into and under the pad instead of being thrown away from the pad as splatter.


As soon as you move the polisher past the last portion of the bead of product instantly move the raised portion of the buffing pad so that the entire pad is now flat against the paint and proceed to spread the product out over the area you're going to work.

After the product is spread out, then start working the product against the paint with slow overlapping passes.

I show this technique in this video,






:)

Re: 36 Sea Ray restoration
 

Thanks again Mike, thats what I was looking for. I read the article above. Great job on the ShearWater!

Re: 36 Sea Ray restoration
 

Back on the boat this weekend working on bringing back the shine. I am going back over the port side with Marine 31 Deep Cut Oxidizer remover. I decided to spend a little more time because I noticed some light spots. I think they are the result of not getting enough product the first time. I am using a different buffer with pads and products I haven't used before so there is a learning curve. The result is worth the effort.

Attachment 37

Attachment 38

Re: 36 Sea Ray restoration
 

On the starboard side I got into some gelcoat repair which has nothing to do with Marine 31 but here is a before and after.

This area had some pretty ugly abrasion from something. Probably dock rash. 30 year old gel coat can't be matched from a can so it took a little while to find the right tint but it's pretty close.


Attachment 39

Attachment 40