Swirl marks and small scratches on 2019 SAN G23

[Gschofield62]

I knew it would happen. I couldn't keep my brand new 2019 G23 perfect for long. Parked at the dock with a ton of bumpers to make sure it never rubs up against anything hard somehow one of the bumpers caused small swirl marks and scratches. It looks like there may have been some dried up sand or mud specs on the bumper that I didn't notice. What is the best way to get these marks out? I can't feel them with my nail so they're not very deep but I don't want to use the wrong kind of material or do something that will cause worse damage. I can have it fixed at the end of the season when I take it to the dealership for service and winterization but I'd like to get rid of it now. Any help what would be greatly appreciated.

[zigs]

I usually use some paint cleaning clay to clean the surface first, than 3m running compound with the foam pad designed for it, then the machine glaze with it's foam bad. Then finish with a coat of wax. Shouldn't be able to see any of the marks after that, unless they are deeper then you might need to sand them out before buffing.

[Blamey]

What zigs recommends is the best option.

For a quicker option get a cleaner wax. I use the 3m perfect it gelcoat polish and wax. Based on your description you'll probably need the medium polish and microfiber towel.

If that doesn't work then do what Zigs recommends.

If that doesn't work then you may need to wet sand but don't worry about that now.


Some people use covers on their bumpers to prevent this issue.

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[H2O]

Buy a buffer and learn to use it. Gelcoat is quite thick and is difficult to screw up with a buffer. Over the life of your boat you will use it a lot. Get comfortable with the process then small scuffs will not bother you because you will know how to fix them. You can even repair big dings with the factory gelcoat repair kits. Watch You Tube.

[nyryan2001]

Wet a $5 buffer ball (or the $20 red Mother’s one) in a cordless drill and some mildly abrasive cleaner wax or polish. Or go regular wax and just press hard. Go over a few times.

i could fix it to new in 5 mins.

[Gschofield62]

Here are the scratches I tried this popular scratch repair cream but it did nothing. I get nervous with polishers and buffers. But I have to try something I found a YouTube video that walked through how to repair gelcoat by wet sanding But that scares me too. And I dont know what kind of gelcoat to buy

[03SANTE]

An orbital buffer from Harbor Freight is the best 70 bucks I've spent on boating...just go elsewhere for pads. I had rashes like that all over one side of my black hull when I bought it and I used Mcguiars 3 step system and it now looks great. I use the oxidation remover step with a wool pad, the polishing and waxing steps with foam pads. As someone else mentioned you may need to start with a wet sand to remove the heavier scratches. On my boat I can go from a 600 grit to the rubbing compound without problem. I just sand with a rubber sanding block by hand and keep misting it with water. Your scratches don't look bad enough to need gelcoat repair.
The 3 step kit is called RV and marine restoration kit and on Amazon if you can't find locally.

[Infinity]

If you cant feel the scratches with your nail, then its all surface and not thru the clear coat over that flake and easily removed

You have to be a lot more careful when compounding/polishing on metal flake since if you get thru the clear coat, then you will start removing the flakes. I had some scratches on my flake and got them out easily tho, I was just more careful, especially with the wet sanding. First time I did scratch repairs, it was nerve wracking, I watched like 5hrs of utube videos, even then.....after seeing what it looked like after wet sanding, I was ready to crap my pants! I ended up polishing the entire boat the first time, took me 2 days cause I was being really careful. (FYI...you dont want to do this work in the hot sun, shade is better....garage is best since when working on a cooler gelcoat makes things easier) It really is not hard tho, its all about having the right tools, pads and cream. The stuff you got is not the best IMO and you wont get it out by hand or without the right tools and creams.
3M makes great products, I ordered the Boat Candy products. I got the "extreme" compound the regular compound and the polish. (have only had to use the "extreme" once, normally the regular compound is fine to start with if you wetsand it properly). Then need an adjustable speed orbital (I got the Makita DA). 7" Wool pads for compounding (white) and 7" semi-synthetic pads for polishing (yellow). I got 800/1000/1500/2000 sandpaper to do any wetsanding. I prefer to use a higher grit and sand a bit longer rather than get too rough and work my way up. (especially important when working on metal flake gelcoat).

Use blue painters tape to tape off your rub rail and the chrome letters.....
CLEAN off the area with scratches using a cleaner wax or something similar.

I think you could use 1000grit to get those scratches out, maybe even worth trying to use compound FIRST and skip wetsand and see how it look. If you wet sand, the easiest way I found is to have a spray bottle with water and some dawn dish soap (soap helps the sandpaper slide easier), keep the area nice and wet when sanding and its good to soak your sandpaper in water for 10mins before you start. Use sand paper and do it all one direction (like up/down)....then switch to left/right...you can also do the angles after that. Then do the same thing using 1500 grit. (compound will remove 1500 grit scratches)
Then you use the wool pad with compound (7-10 pea size drops of compound on the pad and spritz pad lightly with your spray bottle), you start on lowest setting on the DA and slowly work the compound in doing the same process as wetsanding, after going over area slowly up/down & side/side, increase the speed a little and do it again (with compound you don't want speed too high or it can "burn" the gelcoat. I start on lowest setting #1 and work my way up to setting #2. You want to work the compound into the gel till its gone since the pad breaks down the grit and that is what is removing the scratches from the gel.
Then you switch to the semi-synthetic pad and the polish....again you start slow on #1 and after doing the 2x2 area once first going up/down and then side/side using overlapping passes, you increase the speed. With polisher, you can go faster and I usually end up with my last pass around 2500rpm or #3. If its not a mirror shine when done.....do some more polish.

Last step of course is the wax. I typically do wax by hand. Collonite paste wax is good and I used that for years, but last year went to Jescar Power Lock +, its a polymer wax and the next level up from paste wax. It lasts longer and I think give the boat a better shine and protects it longer.

After you do this once, your comfort level will increase a lot. Best purchase I have made for the boat was this Makita DA with all the pads and compound/polish and I use it for something on boat every year. Especially since my boat is mostly black, with some dark blue and black metal flake, scratches/swirls show up easier. Will save you a lot of money in the long run if you are willing to take the time. Obviously you can pay someone, but you will pay a premium for it.

[2019 G21]

You will want to get a nice DA buffer and learn to use it. If the boat scares you, do a couple of vehicles until you get the hang of it. I got a couple scratches on my 2019 already also. Don't know if I missed them during walk through with dealer or if I put them on somehow. I just put some wax over the marks and then clean them all up once a month when I take boat off lift and have access to all the sides.
On yours I would just get some wax back over it and next time your at dealer for oil change have them zip across it with their pads. Like everyone above has said, if you get a good buffer you will use it all the time. I have a 6 inch and smaller 3 inch from www.griotsgarage.com that has the different compounds and pads. On the spendy side but I do all our vehicles several times a year so I get a lot of use out of their stuff.

[Shockthis]

I am not sure if you how you had your bumpers, but you tie the bumpers to your boat not to the dock. If they are tied to the boat, the bumpers move with the boat. If you tie them to the dock then they will rub and cause dull or scratched areas.