Oxidized gelcoat that is shiny?

[Lockey14s]

I am having a hard time getting the grittiness out of the yellow section. Wet sanding up to 3k seems to work the best right now

You can still feel the grittiness after 3000 grit and compounding? That sounds weird. Could it be that the gelcoat is so old at this point that the pores have become large enough to feel by hand?

Maybe you could post some close-up pictures or video here. You could also ask Lee about this in his YT channel. He seems really responsive to questions posed in the YT comments. Tell him you came over from the Cobalt Chat forum. I’ve been trying to get him to join up here but so far no joy.

at 3000 its pretty smooth and nas a decent shine, but if you run your fingers over it it still feels like it has a slight texture. thats compared to the white section which i can get buttery smooth. ive tried taking up close pictures but it just doesnt show the surface well enough. i know im being picky but its just aggravating me that i cant get that perfect shine lol. Maybe ill comment on Lees video and see if i can get a response.

[Titaniumboy]

And the thrilling conclusion in the case of the shiny oxidized Cobalt.

Also featuring alternatives to the OEM Cobalt letters.

[Titaniumboy]

A short update on how the shiny oxidized green Cobalt looks after a summer on the lake. Watch from 0:51 to 1:44.

[Titaniumboy]

Full blown 42 minute extravaganza on how the boat held up over a summer being on Lake Washington near Seattle. Also what procedures and products were chosen to clean her up. More important is the reasoning is explained on why the procedures and products were used for this particular boat.

[Lockey14s]

Full blown 42 minute extravaganza on how the boat held up over a summer being on Lake Washington near Seattle. Also what procedures and products were chosen to clean her up. More important is the reasoning is explained on why the procedures and products were used for this particular boat.

well I went down the rabbit hole and watched a ton of his videos to see if i could replicate his technique. I have an 18DV from my buddy right now that is seriously oxidized and figured this was a good opportunity to try it out.

I did a single pass with a ton of 3M super duty on a wool pad and it cut out all the oxidation really well. you just have to be patient with it and let the materials do their thing. I then used a diminishing compound and then polished. this is a 1985 boat and like he says about older boats, the pores do get bigger over time, but I was still able to get a really nice shine on it without wet sanding. i did the rest of the boat like this and it came out awesome. I think im done wet sanding for good lol.

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[Titaniumboy]

well I went down the rabbit hole and watched a ton of his videos to see if i could replicate his technique. I have an 18DV from my buddy right now that is seriously oxidized and figured this was a good opportunity to try it out.

Wow, your friends boat came back from the dead! You know that we want to see pictures of the completed and shiny boat.

Good timing on your rabbit hole dive, as it looks like Lee (local boydidgood) has temporarily disabled hundreds and hundreds of videos leaving only a single video up at this point. Hopefully he will restore his video catalog shortly.

I did a single pass with a ton of super duty on a wool pad and it cut out all the oxidation really well. you just have to be patient with it and let the materials do their thing. I then used a diminishing compound and then polished. this is a 1985 boat and like he says about older boats, the pores do get bigger over time, but I was still able to get a really nice shine on it without wet sanding. i did the rest of the boat like this and it came out awesome. I think im done wet sanding for good lol.

Now that you have used both traditional wet sanding and Lee’s compounding method, what is your assessment of why and how this works? What are your reasons for switching?

[Lockey14s]

well I went down the rabbit hole and watched a ton of his videos to see if i could replicate his technique. I have an 18DV from my buddy right now that is seriously oxidized and figured this was a good opportunity to try it out.

Wow, your friends boat came back from the dead! You know that we want to see pictures of the completed and shiny boat.

Good timing on your rabbit hole dive, as it looks like Lee (local boydidgood) has temporarily disabled hundreds and hundreds of videos leaving only a single video up at this point. Hopefully he will restore his video catalog shortly.

I did a single pass with a ton of super duty on a wool pad and it cut out all the oxidation really well. you just have to be patient with it and let the materials do their thing. I then used a diminishing compound and then polished. this is a 1985 boat and like he says about older boats, the pores do get bigger over time, but I was still able to get a really nice shine on it without wet sanding. i did the rest of the boat like this and it came out awesome. I think im done wet sanding for good lol.

Now that you have used both traditional wet sanding and Lee’s compounding method, what is your assessment of why and how this works? What are your reasons for switching?

You know im not very good at taking many pictures lol. but here are some of the highlights. a video showing the quality of shine would be much better in this case. I hate doing the shot down the side of the boat to see the reflections, but its just the poor lighting i have in the garage. you can see that the odidation has been eliminated just due to the color change alone.

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Lees videos were literally disappearing as i was watching them haha. he says he is having some legal issues at the moment. so hopefully this gives him an opportunity to filter the videos and get them back online. but really the concepts are the same throughout every video. So you really just have to pick up a buffer and start practicing.

i wanted to get away from wet sanding for a couple of reasons, but the biggest reason was to cut down on the amount of steps needed. i was tired of going around the boat 4, 5 even 6 times. now its at MOST 4 steps (super duty, heavy cut, polish, sealant). plus you can see the change happening in the gel coat a lot easier. with wet sanding its hard to tell what kind of finish you have, what spots you missed, how deep your sanding marks are going. a lot of times i would be left with deep scratches i had a very hard time getting out. the super duty is a lot more forgiving and if you dont like the way an area turned out you can just put more compound on the pad and hit it again. you do have to spend more time on a single spot, but its worth it because you can perfect that spot enough to sometimes go right to a polish.

I wouldnt say the end result is better or worse then wet sanding, its just two different roads to get you to the same spot, just ones shorter. ill take the shorter road with less equipement every day. I like to keep things simple. i hate having a million different products, pads, machines.

oh, but i do hate the smell of super duty lol, the only downside.

[Titaniumboy]

You know im not very good at taking many pictures lol. but here are some of the highlights. a video showing the quality of shine would be much better in this case.

That has turned into one beautiful boat. And I think it is cool that you are going to make a video.

Thanks for going into detail on why you’re changing your methods.

Couple of questions:
1. How long did it take you to do the compounding?
2. How big of a mess did the compounding do to the interior?
3. Did the white buff out quicker than the blues?
4. Is the Cobalt flag and logo new or old?
5. What is the blue tape near the bottom for?
6. How can I get a big Cobalt sign?

[DEcosse]

Amazing restoration - well done!

[Lockey14s]

You know im not very good at taking many pictures lol. but here are some of the highlights. a video showing the quality of shine would be much better in this case.

That has turned into one beautiful boat. And I think it is cool that you are going to make a video.

Thanks for going into detail on why you’re changing your methods.

Couple of questions:
1. How long did it take you to do the compounding?
2. How big of a mess did the compounding do to the interior?
3. Did the white buff out quicker than the blues?
4. Is the Cobalt flag and logo new or old?
5. What is the blue tape near the bottom for?
6. How can I get a big Cobalt sign?

To do the compounding alone I would say I have about 2-3 hours into it. But that’s doing the top side too. And I was taking my time and learning as I went.

The compound gets very dusty as it breaks down and along with the fluff from the wool pad it can get kind of dirty. But all compounds are water soluble so it washes up easy with some dawn and water.

I didn’t notice a huge difference between the white and the blue, but the darker colors show more imperfections, so I did spend more time on it.

Cobalt decals are new. Not originals, just vinyl replicas.

I used blue painters tape on all the metal and on the bottom paint. If you buff close to metal it will get into the wool, I figured that can’t be good lol. And the bottom paint was also coming off onto the wool and hurting the gel coat.

Cobalt sign was a… gift?

[Krob1114]

I can't see the video. It says "Private." I thought I was in the club.

[Lockey14s]

I can't see the video. It says "Private." I thought I was in the club.

hes restricted them all for now, hes in a legal battle

[Titaniumboy]

I can't see the video. It says "Private." I thought I was in the club.

Most of the videos became available again in the last day or two.

[Titaniumboy]

An update on the red trashed Bayliner from the first page of this thread.

[Titaniumboy]

Another update on the poor trashed Bayliner.