Help with Waxing and installing rub rail

[jondavis08]

So I've read a lot of conflicting suggestions on waxing and thought I'd throw out my situation to see if I can get things straight. I've attached a couple of pictures, for the most part, I feel as if the color(besides platform more to come on this) is still holding well and just have some minor scratches. Can the scratches be cleaned up by waxing? Here's what I currently own 3M Marine Cleaner and Wax, Dewalt DWP849X and Collinite 885. Any suggestions on how to proceed, should I try a different wax to get everything looking new?

Now for the platform, oxidation is bad here. I have bought new sea deck and plan on removing the old so I can get to work on this. I would appreciate any advice on how to work through the oxidation problem...

Lastly, I'm replacing the rub rail as well, noticed that the rubber piece is not predrilled, assuming it's best to try to line up new rub rail and rubber with the old existing holes? Shouldn't be bad, it just will be more time-consuming.

[bturner]

Pictures can be very deceiving so this would be based on what I believe I'm seeing.

No, you'll need more than wax for anything you can catch a fingernail on. As to What you currently own for the job..... The rotary wheel you own will work depending on your skill level with that tool. The problem with a rotary is they're typically heavy, large and can do a lot of damage quickly if you're not skilled with them. Those very same attributes make them very desirable for someone that has a high skill level with them though. On your soft products I would suggest adding 3M's Perfect It paint system and a full set of foam pads.....

https://www.amazon.com/3M-Perfect-Bu...sr=1-1-catcorr

If I were doing it I would also start with block wet sanding the scratches out with (depending on the depth) 1000 and moving through 2000 (1000, 1500, 2000) then proceeding through the Perfect It rubbing and polishing steps, then lastly use one of your waxes to finish it up.

On scratches that are deeper or chips which you would seem to have in possibly in the lower part of the first picture and the beginning part of the scratch of the second picture, I would order gel coat past repair either from Nautique Parts (if they have it) or Spectrum color, patch the deeper scratches/chips then start by leveling the filled areas with 600 then moving through the sanding as stated in the previous process.

Keel/hull bottom scratches are a different beast all together. This is an area that white is really an advantage as the scratches tend not to show well. The reason I say they're a different beast is because while you're other scratches look the same (to a degree) they're one time scratches that will only have to be dealt with once. Those hull/keel scratches would appear to be reoccurring and probably from shallow power loading with sand/dirt in the bunk carpet. I could probably make that area look pretty good once or twice but after that the remaining gel coat will be too thin to fix again without blowing through it. If I were helping you fix it I would probably hit the area with the rubbing compound from the Perfect It kit pretty hard to polish out the scratches as best I could and leave it at that. I would save the sanding option for when I was ready to sell the boat and needed the best looking finish I could get.

Oxidation is the same sanding/polishing process as the scratches. What you're looking to do is sand/polish past the damaged layer of gel coat to expose a non damaged surface. The sanding gets you to the non damaged material then the polishing refinishes the surface to the high gloss you once had.

I want to repeat here that looking at pictures is a lot different than seeing and touching the scratches in person. Gel; coat is fairly thick and forgiving to work with but you can sand or burn through it fairly easily with 600 sand paper or course automotive rubbing compound, especially with a rotary buffer. I've restored several boats and have experience with both random orbital and rotary tools on both cars and boats gaining my initial skill set working in a body shop while going to college. The first thing I was taught was to always use the least aggressive tool/material to finish the project. That said I prefer starting most projects by thoroughly cleaning the surface first with a grease and wax remover then with a clay bar to remove embedded materials that can be pulled from the surface while rubbing or sanding which can further damage the surface you're working on. When sanding I like to start with 1000 (unless I'm leveling a gel coat patch, then it's 600) and I always use a rubber sanding block (https://www.amazon.com/3M-05517-Weto...-garden&sr=8-7) during the process to prevent finger groves. If I'm doing a radius I'll use one of the foam blocks so I can get into the contours. For rubbing/polishing I prefer to use a random orbital polisher like the Porter Cable (https://www.amazon.com/PORTER-CABLE-.../dp/B002EQ96MG) and a series of foam pads in 6" or 7" diameter depending on how tight the area is that I'm working. I also have a 3" base and pad for really tight areas.

Lastly, everyone will have a slightly different to gravely different approach to repairing these types of scratches and will recommend different tools and materials. The ones I've recommended have served me well over the years and are ones that will deliver very good results regardless of your skill level with some time and patience.

[wakejunky]

Rubrail installation...go around the boat with a crayon and make a vertical mark at every drill hole. This will be your reference for driving in the screws, you want to drive the screws into the same holes. Warm up the rubrail prior to installing, let it sit outside on a warm day or warm it up with a hair dryer while it's in a box. Start from the bow with from the middle of the rubrail length (There is a little lip on the rubrail that should be on the bottom) and work towards the rear while pushing up the rubrail to catch the lower lip of the rubrail so, that it stays straight down the length of the boat.