Tiny scratches in hull - Best Fix?

[HS]

What's the best way to fix (rub out) small dock scratches on the side of the hull? These are small, and are visible mostly becasue the white part of the hull shows through the blue color of the hull (Oops).

[DanielC]

RE: Tiny scratches in hull - Best Fix?

The gelcoat on a Nautique is fairly thick. The scratch would have to be pretty deep to go all the way through the blue into the white.
A minor scratch in blue gelcoat, or most other colors will appear white.
If it is a minor scratch, you can sand it, and then buff, and polish it.
Depending on the depth of the scratch, I start with a fine to coarse sandpaper, or if the scratch is minor, you can just buff it out.
I have fixed some scratches by starting with 220 grit wet or dry paper, wet. Use a spray bottle of water with a few drops of Dawn dishwashing detergent in it to lube the sandpaper. Then wet sand with 320, 400, 600, maybe 800 grit sandpaper. At this point, if you have a rotary buffer, use it with a compound, on a wool pad. Meguires color restorer works, Meguires heavy cut cleaner, or Meguires Diamond cut cleaner. You can use other products as well, 3M makes some good compounds also.
If you do not have a rotary buffer, you can sand the area with finer grits of sand paper (1000, 1500, 2500) and then apply the compound by hand.
Go to an auto body supply store to get the compounds, and the fine grits of sandpaper. They might also be willing to answer questions about compounds.
I have found for buffing and cleaning gelcoat, most compounds will work, even those designed for paint, and not necessarly gelcoat.
To finish off the repaired area, I then apply Meguires boat/RV poilish, and then Meguires pure wax.
If you do the repair right, you will then have to buff, polish, and wax the rest of the boat
If you need gelcoat,
www.spectrumcolor.com
www.minicraft.com
Both companies have factory matching Nautique gelcoat colors.
The colors are not always a perfect match, but in most cases it is very, very close.
Once you learn how easy is is to fix a minor scratch on your boat, I think it helps you enjoy it a little more, because you will not be so uptight about a minor scratch.
Spectrum color is in Washington, Minicraft is in Florida.