What are you using for a waxer/polisher tool?

[Bogusdogs]

I see that there are so many out there. Is there one that seems to work well, that has variable speeds, that is decent for the do it yourselfer?

[Calisdad]

muscle

[SilentSeven]

This guy.

https://www.harborfreight.com/7-in-1...her-62297.html

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[03SANTE]

I will second the orbital buffer from Harbor Freight. I paired it with the Meguiars marine/RV restoration system (3 bottles) and it did wonders on my black hull with no swirling. I had some bad oxidation when I bought the boat and doing it by hand was not an option.

I would recommend getting some better polishing/waxing pads however as I bought ones at HF and they fell apart quickly. And a good wool cutting pad if your oxidation is bad. Otherwise just foam pads for the polish and wax.

[bturner]

15 year old 7424 Porter Cable.

[SilentSeven]

15 year old 7424 Porter Cable.

I also have one of these. They are awesome...especially for waxing and finish work where you don't want swirls. A high speed rotatory polisher with a wool bonnet is the trick for cutting. But you do need to be careful lest you burn through something (decal, paint, maybe even gelcoat...)

[bturner]

For the most part I've moved away from a rotary wheel and prefer to rely on wet sanding, typically with a series of 1000, 1500 then 2000. Once I have the area blocked out I finish with the 3 step 3M Perfect It products using Yellow, Orange then White foam pads matching the abrasion levels of the Perfect Product. Apply a quality marine past wax like Flagship with a clean White pad and remove with Grey. Turns out exceptional every time.

[jtryon]

For the most part I've moved away from a rotary wheel and prefer to rely on wet sanding, typically with a series of 1000, 1500 then 2000. Once I have the area blocked out I finish with the 3 step 3M Perfect It products using Yellow, Orange then White foam pads matching the abrasion levels of the Perfect Product. Apply a quality marine past wax like Flagship with a clean White pad and remove with Grey. Turns out exceptional every time.

are you wet sanding by hand?

[jjackkrash]

I use a collection of Rupes buffers, including a Rotary, Mille, Bigfoot 21, Mini, and Nano. If I had to pick one for the boat it would be the Mille, which is a gear-driven forced orbital. It can do most of the heavy work of a rotary without leaving holograms. If it is really bad, though, you want a rotary with wool pads or even Trizact (3M) wet sanding discs and then some sort of orbital to take the holograms out for the finish work.

[jjackkrash]

muscle

Electric engines have a lot more torque.

[SilentSeven]

I use a collection of Rupes buffers, including a Rotary, Mille, Bigfoot 21, Mini, and Nano. If I had to pick one for the boat it would be the Mille, which is a gear-driven forced orbital. It can do most of the heavy work of a rotary without leaving holograms. If it is really bad, though, you want a rotary with wool pads or even Trizact (3M) wet sanding discs and then some sort of orbital to take the holograms out for the finish work.

One of these? Sexy!

https://www.amazon.com/Detail-LK900E.../dp/B07C66JKZ3

[jjackkrash]

One of these? Sexy!

https://www.amazon.com/Detail-LK900E.../dp/B07C66JKZ3

Yup. It's the bees knees. It gives you most of the cutting power of a rotary but doesn't leave holograms. It works well on all but the toughest gelcoat jobs and I can use it on paint without the same risks of burning through the clear that comes with a rotary. And it powers through rounded surfaces and corners without stalling like a random orbital will stall. (Its German counterpart is the Flex 3401).

[bturner]

are you wet sanding by hand?

Absolutely. I basically divide the areas I'm working in into 3'x3' sections if they're large and flat and if not I make them smaller depending on how intricate they are. On the transom for example I'll do a 1'x1' section. It's not something you can hurry but at the same time it's not something you have to do all at once either.

Also avoid wet sanding without a sanding block or some sort of pad between the paper and your fingers as it's easy to put groves into the surface with your fingers. This is why I refer to this as blocking a lot of times. For most areas I'll wrap my paper in a small rubber block like this....

https://www.amazon.com/3M-Wetordry-R...3235034&sr=8-7

or depending on the area I'm working I'll use a foam pad like one of the ones listed with this items listed with it as frequently purchased items. You can get crazy with this stuff depending on how deep you want to go but based on my experience with boats those three pads should be about all you need for 90% of the sanding you'll do on a boat.

[pauldixon]

I'll add my system for reference.

I use a Festool rotary sander (5") for wetsanding. If its bad, I go down to 320 grit then to 600, 1000.
Then I use a Makita 9237C 7" Polisher set to around 2500rpm with a 3M 05711 Blended Wool Compounding pad and 3M 06044 Imperial Compound and Finishing paste
After this, I switch to 3M 05733 Perfect-It Ultrafine Foam Polishing Pad with 3m Perfect-it polish
After this I switch to 3M 05738 perfect it Foam polishing pad with wax.

You need to be careful with the wool pad and a rotary sander but you can't beat the speed and power.

This works wonders for me. I tried getting scratches out before with smaller polishers and not using true wool pads and it took me forever and didn't do a good job. Its expensive to get setup but once you are you will get many polishes and compounds done wiht this setup.