Bring Shine back to 2001 SAN

[ohiowake2]

Wanting to get some opinions and ideas. I have a 01 SAN red black and white. Each spring I give it a good buff with compound and then a marine wax and then wax once or twice more through the summer to keep looking nice. It doesn't take long and the back of the boat starts to just water spot and not shine, this part of the boat is white. I was deciding if I should wet sand it this year before buffing and seeing if that would bring back more of the shine appearance to it. Should I use 1000 or 2000 grit to wet sand or just keep buffing once a year because the boat still looks very nice just not as shiny as some newer boats do.

[Quinner]

Curious what wax you are using because it sure does not sound like it is working. Try Collinite Fleetwax this spring, best wax I have ever used.
Without pics tough to say, if the gel is not to far gone you should be able to restore factory new shine:
(if necessary) wetsand 800, 1000, 1200
3M Super Duty Compound on a 1" pile wool pad, 2x
3M Perfect-It II Compound on a 1.5" pile wool pad, 1x
3M Finesse-It II Finishing Material (this is a polish) on a wool/acrylic blend polishing pad, 2x
Collinite wax, by hand with a microfiber cloth

[ohiowake2]

I have been using Meguires Marine wax. I do use the 3M Perfect-IT and Finesse when buffing. Where do you buy your Collinite Wax at Quinner?

[ohiowake2]

I might just try the 3M Super duty compound first this year and see how that goes. My red and black seem to have good shine its just hard getting the white to have that nice shine to it.

[wakejunky]

Also depends on what buffer you're using. I tried using my porter cable dual action and it wouldn't bring the shine back. I bought a harbor freight high speed buffer with a buffing pad for the polish and then a wool pad for the wax and that did the trick. You really have to get some heat to the gelcoat in order to get the shine back, a dual action just won't do it.

[ohiowake2]

I do have a high speed buffer. Maybe I should do a higher speed because I have been told not to burn through the gel so I usually go a a slower speed.

[Evening Shade]

Yes be careful as to not burn the gelcoat with too much speed/heat.

[wakejunky]

I'm not saying you get it hot but, warm. When you're done buffing an area it should be warm to the touch. Otherwise, I don't think you can get the gelcoat shiny. Buddy came over and immediately said "you buffed the boat" I buffed over everything, including stickers. I only had a problem with the thick epoxy stickers that I discolored a bit but, I think I can get them back with a little acetone. I had a few areas with gelcoat scratches, dock hits, that I had to wet sand, the only way I was able to get the sanding scratches to disappear was with the high speed buffer. Just take your time and you'll appreciate the results.