Wet Sanding Gelcoat

[eddiezuskin]

I have a 1987 250DA going into season 7 of ownership. Every year I would use heavy cut compound then polish then wax to get a barely decent finish on the 2 blue stripes. Within a month they would look chalky and dull. Last fall I did a test spot that would be exposed for winter by wet sanding 320-600-800-1000 paper then compound then wax and it still looked decent in the spring.
Last week I started the transom and port side, looks good but not showroom good and partway through I stopped using the 320 paper as some of the scratches were still visible. It looks fantastic from 5 feet away and I hope it will stay looking good for more than a month.
Eddie

 

[88dancer300]

If you go with 400, 600, 1000, then 1500, and buff with 3M super duty, it will look great.

 

[Her Diamond 2]

I can't tell you what sand paper to use but I can tell you that I had a 1988 Seville Cuddy with two red strips the were severely oxidized. The boat was a repo and needed some work. The dealer wet sanded the striped and it looked new. I boat in Canada so we get only 6 months in the water - max and it lasted 2 years before the top strip started to fade. Bottom was a little better since it didn't get as much sun. Just make sure you keep up on the oxidization/polish/wax and really stay on top of it or you'll be starting all over again. Remember, each time you wet sand, your taking off some of the color in the gel.