How to repair light scratches blact part of my 2008 270 SLX

[2008slx270]

Howdy All,

I have some light scratches in my black part of the boat. What is the best way to paint them or cover them up with out taking them somewhere? Scratches are pretty light so I hate to spend big bucks fixing them.

Thanks in advance!

Rick

 

[BillK2632]

I usually start with the least "cutting" product 1st, ie cleaner wax first, if that doesn't take it out, then polishing compound and so on.:

Cleaner wax > Polishing Compound (Buff Magic, Finesse II etc) > Rubbing compound (3m Heavy Duty Rubbing Compound etc). Need to follow all of these up with a straight wax. For small areas you can get good results by hand or a random orbital buffer and you can't really do any damage this way, it's not going to come out any worse than the scratches.

If these are deeper than what these methods will remove, then you get into compounding with a high speed buffer and or wet sanding - you can do some real damage with these tools if you don't know what you are doing, so depending on your ability you might leave it to a professional. I've done some gelcoat repairs that required sanding and have wet sanded out a few scratches, then polished with Buff Magic with good results -- but I have an older white boat, not sure I would attempt that with black.

 

[bbwhitejr]

I have a pewter/white boat. I have sanded out numerous scratches that were present when I got the boat. I have started with 400, then 800, then 1000, 1500, 2000, and finally 3000 grit. Follow with a rotary w/ wool pad and buff magic. Finish up with polish and then wax and done. Never done any thing like this in my life and now I have a 100% scratch free boat. It is very time consuming, but really neat to see.

As for black...I would find an inconspicuous spot on the bottom or somewhere and give it a shot. If you can feel any part of the scratch with your fingernail, more than likely, compound alone will not take it out.

Also there are many instructional videos on utube.

Bennett

 

[JimT]

Try to repair as mentioned above by Bill and Bennett. Avoid gelcoat repair as the patches will fade differently then the rest of the boat and after a few years will be noticeable.

 

[Windjammer]

Sort of a hijack. Have a black hull runabout that has some scratches and some oxidation. Tried Meguiars #67 but just didn't seem to do too well, so picked up a bottle of Meguiars #91 which seems to give better results. Have the Porter Cable 7424 but not sure which speed setting is "best". Have stayed between "1" and "2" but not sure if this is where I need to be. What speed would yield the best results?

 

[bbwhitejr]

Sort of a hijack. Have a black hull runabout that has some scratches and some oxidation. Tried Meguiars #67 but just didn't seem to do too well, so picked up a bottle of Meguiars #91 which seems to give better results. Have the Porter Cable 7424 but not sure which speed setting is "best". Have stayed between "1" and "2" but not sure if this is where I need to be. What speed would yield the best results?

If I remember correctly, that is an orbital machine. You need a rotary machine with a wool pad and it can look new again. There are mixed opinions here, but I have a Harbor Freight rotary that is has performed flawlessly for its 3rd season. Best $45 I ever spent.

Bennett

 

[SeaRayDancer2016]

Hi Guys I want to repair some gelcoat on my boat, where can I find the right gelcoat and the paint, I believe its called "artic white" I live in Sweden.

Thank you so much in advance!

 

[northshore]

Look around on spectrumcolor.com