Need help from the detail pros

[Tmosely1]

I have a 99 Super Sport that I took some decals and pinstripe off of and I have a little ghosting. Can you guys that have some experience suggest a compound for me? Is this a finesse-it type situation .. Perfect-it.. Or am I going to have to wet sand? I have a DA buffer.

[Evening Shade]

I would try Finesse-It first. It won't cut as aggressive as Perfect-It, but if you use Perfect-It you will want to follow it up with Finesse-It. I would just start with Finesse-It and see how it goes. I think Finesse-It will make quick work of that light oxidation.

[Blamey]

I've had great results with 3m Super Duty compound followed by
Finesse it II Glaze then a wax (I use Colonites). It's what 3m recommends as the steps if you don't wet sand.

If that doesn't work then you'll probably want to wet sand.

I've had some say the like to use Perfect it after the Super Duty but going straight to Finesse it worked for me.

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[markj]

^^^agree

[Fgroce]

I used heavy duty compound for gel coat, perfect it for gel coat, finesse for gel coat and then wax. Worked great for me.

[Tmosely1]

Getting there... Still a bit to go. I ended up using Meguiars Marine 67 and 49 .. Both work but 49 seems to like a bit more speed. The 67 is low and slow

[kmarine]

wizards turbo cut or mystic cut followed up with wizzards nanowax, I no longer waste my time with anything 3M or maguires. I polish about 20 boats a year I have a full bottle of finesse it on the shelf which I will save for automobile work only. something I learned from the Harley guys.

[Tmosely1]

Opinions needed ..... Would it hurt to use the boat for a day without wax on it? I'm not done polishing.... but I really don't want to lose a weekend. I will end up compounding it more next week anyway before I polish and wax.

[Blamey]

Opinions needed ..... Would it hurt to use the boat for a day without wax on it? I'm not done polishing.... but I really don't want to lose a weekend. I will end up compounding it more next week anyway before I polish and wax.

I'm not an expert but I don't see it being a problem. Just clean it before the next round of polishing.

[kmarine]

Many of us do sections as with a 40 foot yacht will take as much as three weekends if badly oxidized. are you using a wool or foam pad on your high speed buffer? I recommend starting at the lowest speed first, then speeding up for final gloss.

[Tmosely1]

Many of us do sections as with a 40 foot yacht will take as much as three weekends if badly oxidized. are you using a wool or foam pad on your high speed buffer? I recommend starting at the lowest speed first, then speeding up for final gloss.

I'm using a wool pad on a dewalt and to be honest... It's taking longer than I expected. I probably have around 6 hours or so on each side and I'm not where I'm content yet. Looking at it square on I'm fine, or in the shade in the garage, but if you get down lower and where it's in direct sunlight you can still see the outline of the letters. I have been compounding it a few times and then pull it out of the garage to see how it looks. I started using Meguiars 49 and then 67 and I'm now up to 3m marine compound. Is there a point where you stop "compound mode" and change over to polish?

[kmarine]

The truth is that the decal has protected the gelcoat from oxidation for years. As for the time spent I would say compounding should only take 5 to 10 minutes for a 2ft x2ft square area. Then go to a polishing finishing followed by a sealer. Sometimes with gelcoat you will get ghosting which will fade eventually over time and repeated polishing. Take a break and go boating. There is a company reelshine.net which has some highly recommended more expensive and aggressive compounds. Maguires compounds are rather old school and do not have some of the newer nanotechnology polishes which hide the blemishes faster. another good resource is autogeek.net.

[markj]

My first Nauti had decals I didn't like so I removed them and hit it HARD with 3M super duty. It would look great for 3 weeks and then the ghosting would come back. Kept that up for 3 rounds and decided to not worry about it any more. Move on. Go enjoy your boat or get a new top gel layer added. Better keep a firm grip on your wallet though if you do the latter.