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Starliner Pre-Season Polish - Input Appreciated

atc250r said:
Again, thank you for the input. Your initial reply said No 7 then Finesse It, so am I doing 3 steps actually before applying wax? No 7, Finesse, Polish, Wax? If so what do you suggest for polish?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the confusion.:o Depending on how bad the oxidation is I start with 800 grit, 1200 grit and1500 grit. Once that's done I wash the boat down to get all the sanding residue off. I start with 3M heavy duty rubbing compound with a wool pad. Next I use a 3M rubbing compound that gets 1200 grit and above scratches out. Once the compound is done wash the boat to get the compound residue off. I switch to a foam pad and start with Mirror Glaze no.7 to bring the shine back. Then use Finesse It 2 to remove fine scratches/ swirl marks. Follow that Collinite No. 925 by hand. Some folks use Collinite fleetwax no.885. A side note when buffing I use the recommended rpm's on the bottles. So if compound calls for 1200- 2000 rpms I'll stay in that range.

col-11651.jpgcol-11650.jpg
 
Thanks so much for the clarification. Based on what I've got on hand I was thinking of the buffing agents in the following order after wet sanding:

1. 3M Marine Compound
2. Turtle Wax Premium Compound (I know, I know. But I have it and its for 1500 grit scratches)
3. Mirror Glaze
4. Finesse It 2
5. Meguiar's Flagship

I also have a brand new bottle of Meguiars Ultimate Compound but while the Turtle Wax site give great info about their products the Meguiars doesn't say squat about what grit scratches their compound removes.

John
 
atc250r said:
Thanks so much for the clarification. Based on what I've got on hand I was thinking of the buffing agents in the following order after wet sanding:

1. 3M Marine Compound
2. Turtle Wax Premium Compound (I know, I know. But I have it and its for 1500 grit scratches)
3. Mirror Glaze
4. Finesse It 2
5. Meguiar's Flagship

I also have a brand new bottle of Meguiars Ultimate Compound but while the Turtle Wax site give great info about their products the Meguiars doesn't say squat about what grit scratches their compound removes.

John
Click to expand...

That should work with what you have. I've used Meguiar's Flagship wax it's good stuff. :thumb: Do you have both the wool and foam pads?
 
Well I have the twisted wool one that came with the good buffer I borrowed and one of the the foam ones that Ram suggested that is a few years old but unused. I'm planning on ordering another 2wool pack of the foam ones and the wool one Ram suggested. I'm going to get the supplies together for next weekend. This weekend I'm going to strip the hardware off and try to get the wet sanding done which reminds me I can't find my rubber 3M sanding block so I need to pick one up tomorrow along with more wetsand paper and the No7 while I'm at AutoZone.
 
I use Napa Auto Parts, O'Reillys and Advance Auto parts to buy most of the 3M and Meguiar's products. Sometimes I buy from West Marine or Jamestown Distributors depending on what I need.
 
Fortunately I pass most of those places on the way home or just a little off the way home. I didn't think of Advance, they are usually pretty good. I'll have to see if they have the pads and all, I'll just go there then.
 
Thanks Paul. I've read about aqua buff online, after reading both the good reviews and the bad I'm going to do it the old fashioned way and wet sand it. I can get the material for that locally and do it this weekend hopefully. Maybe do the machine buffing over the course of the week after that and reattach all the deck hardware next weekend.

John
 
Picked up the Mirror Glaze, some 800 grit for the stubborn spots, 3M rubber sanding block, and some other odds and ends at VatoZone tonight. Basically everything but the extra bonnets and Finesse It. Just found out the wife and kids will be gone for 3 days next week so I'll be able to hit it hard early next week each night after work. Knarloid is planning on coming here in the next couple of weeks so we can both buff our boats out and have a few beers, I might be done with mine by then so I'll just drink beer and lend a hand while he works. :)

John
 
atc250r said:
Picked up the Mirror Glaze, some 800 grit for the stubborn spots, 3M rubber sanding block, and some other odds and ends at VatoZone tonight. Basically everything but the extra bonnets and Finesse It. Just found out the wife and kids will be gone for 3 days next week so I'll be able to hit it hard early next week each night after work. Knarloid is planning on coming here in the next couple of weeks so we can both buff our boats out and have a few beers, I might be done with mine by then so I'll just drink beer and lend a hand while he works. :)

John
Click to expand...
John, let me know when. Maybe I'll come join. I've got a polisher, I'd have to pick up some bonnets and supplies but sounds like fun and the Liner needs it. Can't have you guys too much "shinier" than me, Dickhead. (are we allowed to say that around here?)
 
A bit of a slow start tonight. First order was to put the new roof panel on the instant garage but it didn't fit worth a crap so that wasted valuable time. In the end I got the windshield, lights, bow cover snaps, and bow cleat off. Also removed the rear seat back, rear side upholstery panels, and side panels in the bow. The rear cleats will need a second set of hands since they have nuts with bolts as do the side rails. What I candidate figure out is how I'm gonna get to the nut on the very front screw on the rail since its way past the wall that hide the foam. Might end up removing that wall and foam after all.

John
 
I took the cleats off solo by using a set of vise grips on the nut. That allowed me to get back out from underneath and unscrew it. I don't know about the front, since I have a different boat.
 
I really should have thought of that. Long week and a lot on my plate I guess. I ran out of daylight anyway and my buddy Jay and I always have a good time working on sh1t together and drinking some beers. I think my only hope for the front is to leave the mount in place and hope the rail comes out of it. I'm leaning towards opening up the front and pulling the foam at this point.
 
Got all of it stripped off. Drilled the screws out of the very front mount, I'll figure out whether to chop out the wall and attack the foam or slide a bigger screw in the old hole after the buffing is done. We had a lot more planned for today but the problem with a friend who you like to drink beer with is you end up doing more drinking than working sometimes. I was hoping to get it washed and the initial wet sand done today but it didn't happen, we did a lot of BS'ing and rode my 9 year old's little 3 wheeler around like drunken fools. Gonna put in some time tomorrow since we don't really have any big plans for the holiday.

John
 
Got the pre-sanding wash done, used some 800 to smooth over the 4 spots where it looks like some sort of repairs were made at one point, and did all the nooks and crannies with 1000 on a sponge, then wiped it all down. Getting those 4 spots smooth and looking fairly good was a lot of work, if I'd had some 600 it might have gone a little quicker but it'd be more likely I'd sand through the gel. The color is not 100% matching in a couple of the spots, it looks like someone blended it at some point but I couldn't see evidence of any repair from the inside of the boat so I'm guessing it was a repair of some scratches or stress cracks. Hopefully when its finished the slight color difference won't be as noticeable and it will for sure look better than the way it looked before as it was a little pitted, chalky and looked like it might have been burned by overzealous use of a buffer at some point. It got dark before I could take any pics but I'll snap a few tomorrow before I start. Now that the rough parts are smoothed out and the body lines are sanded I think I can make a lot quicker progress on the rest. If I can get the whole deck sanded out with 1000 tomorrow evening I'll be pretty happy.

John
 
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