General Question About Wet Sanding

[96motorhead]

I see a lot of old boats that have been wet sanded and look brand new with no scratches. My question is how can I tell if a scratch in gel coat can be removed by wet sanding? Also how do people know when to stop sanding so the gel coat doesn't get to thin? Obviously there is no reason to sand any deeper than the scratch but this goes back to my initial question of how to tell if the scratch is to deep to begin with. Finally, what is the typical thickness of gel coat on a boat?

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

Wet Sand / Color sand / Cut and Buff ... several different names but done right makes a world of difference. Hopefully you will get some good advice from guys on here and ill also give you mine. A lot of info already on this site, if you just do a search for Wet Sand you will see some good threads pop up including one by 2 forceful where he detailed his older 21 Schiada and shot video, terrific job and great coaching tips.

If I can feel the scratch with my finger nail, I am not trying to get rid of that scratch especially on an older boat as you don't know if it has been cut already. Old scares me , if I need to put sand paper to it ill start at 1000 very lightly. If its metal flake don't sand it or try to buff it, typically on flake the clear is gone and all you are doing is grinding the flake down. I have buddies who are custom painters and people drop off and want them to cut and buff cars they will not touch anything they did not spay. Be careful its very easy to go thru the color even with high grit paper.

There is also old school methods and newer methods. Old school guys would cut to 1000 or 1200 and use a good compound with a wool pad and finish it up. Now I am seeing guy use specialty DA's with 2000 + and almost buff the dam thing with the paper and then finish with foam pads not really cutting but polishing and sealing, Tons of ways to skin this cat but know that if done wrong you will sand thru or burn thru that color very easy. Had a fried at a shop, Mark Strunk, who was a master with a wool pad and compound, many times you don't need to cut with paper but use a series of cutting compounds.

I Spent the better part of a week doing my Day Cruiser went 800 to 1500 with foam foam blocks and soft pads and final cut it with a wool pad and 3M products, finished with Meguires foam pads waxes and polishes. I just finished an Opel for a friend and finished it off the same way, but I put the clear on both of these and knew I had material to work with. The Opel took me the better part of a week as well, talking nights after work, and I am slow as a snail. Now I am a shitty painter that why o color sand, same way with welding, I am a fantastic grinder

 

[cofooter]

Wet Sand / Color sand / Cut and Buff ... several different names but done right makes a world of difference. Hopefully you will get some good advice from guys on here and ill also give you mine. A lot of info already on this site, if you just do a search for Wet Sand you will see some good threads pop up including one by 2 forceful where he detailed his older 21 Schiada and shot video, terrific job and great coaching tips.

If I can feel the scratch with my finger nail, I am not trying to get rid of that scratch especially on an older boat as you don't know if it has been cut already. Old scares me , if I need to put sand paper to it ill start at 1000 very lightly. If its metal flake don't sand it or try to buff it, typically on flake the clear is gone and all you are doing is grinding the flake down. I have buddies who are custom painters and people drop off and want them to cut and buff cars they will not touch anything they did not spay. Be careful its very easy to go thru the color even with high grit paper.

There is also old school methods and newer methods. Old school guys would cut to 1000 or 1200 and use a good compound with a wool pad and finish it up. Now I am seeing guy use specialty DA's with 2000 + and almost buff the dam thing with the paper and then finish with foam pads not really cutting but polishing and sealing, Tons of ways to skin this cat but know that if done wrong you will sand thru or burn thru that color very easy. Had a fried at a shop, Mark Strunk, who was a master with a wool pad and compound, many times you don't need to cut with paper but use a series of cutting compounds.

I Spent the better part of a week doing my Day Cruiser went 800 to 1500 with foam foam blocks and soft pads and final cut it with a wool pad and 3M products, finished with Meguires foam pads waxes and polishes. I just finished an Opel for a friend and finished it off the same way, but I put the clear on both of these and knew I had material to work with. The Opel took me the better part of a week as well, talking nights after work, and I am slow as a snail. Now I am a shitty painter that why o color sand, same way with welding, I am a fantastic grinder View attachment 921268 View attachment 921269 View attachment 921270 View attachment 921271

Very sound advice!

 

[Wheeler]

We need more pix of the Opel, please.

 

[74 spectra20 v-drive]

We need more pix of the Opel, please.

OK I Guess we are thread jacking....

1972 Buick Opel, has a Mazda Miata engine in it. Cool little car the owner is a buddy of my Son in Law, super nice young man, bright and hell on wheels man, he has a motor that just will not stop, he thought we were going to have this car done in 3 days. I told him I was giving him a lesson in patience, we spent 4 weeks on this thing. He fly's Black Hawks for the Air National Guard and is being deployed to Iraq next Feb for a year... I though this was a fun thing to do for him his wife and their new Son. When he gets back we are cutting the nose off this thing as the underside is complete Swiss cheese, they make a very cool fiberglass nose for them. These cars are uni-bodies and all steel, they were made in Germany. Pictures are from how it showed up at my house, initial epoxy to cover bare metal, body work, seal, base coat and a shitty clear job... I got talked into using a medium reducer on the clear rather than a slow that I usually use. The stuff just would not flow out and it cost me 20 + hours of color sanding... so there is the relevance to this thread I color sanded my ass off on this tiny little car.

 

[rivermobster]

OK I Guess we are thread jacking....

1972 Buick Opel, has a Mazda Miata engine in it. Cool little car the owner is a buddy of my Son in Law, super nice young man, bright and hell on wheels man, he has a motor that just will not stop, he thought we were going to have this car done in 3 days. I told him I was giving him a lesson in patience, we spent 4 weeks on this thing. He fly's Black Hawks for the Air National Guard and is being deployed to Iraq next Feb for a year... I though this was a fun thing to do for him his wife and their new Son. When he gets back we are cutting the nose off this thing as the underside is complete Swiss cheese, they make a very cool fiberglass nose for them. These cars are uni-bodies and all steel, they were made in Germany. Pictures are from how it showed up at my house, initial epoxy to cover bare metal, body work, seal, base coat and a shitty clear job... I got talked into using a medium reducer on the clear rather than a slow that I usually use. The stuff just would not flow out and it cost me 20 + hours of color sanding... so there is the relevance to this thread I color sanded my ass off on this tiny little car. View attachment 921328 View attachment 921329 View attachment 921330 View attachment 921331 View attachment 921332 View attachment 921333 View attachment 921334 View attachment 921335 View attachment 921336 View attachment 921337 View attachment 921338 View attachment 921339 View attachment 921340 View attachment 921341 View attachment 921344

Haven't seen one of those cars in ages. Very cool!

 

[Wheeler]

OK I Guess we are thread jacking....

1972 Buick Opel, has a Mazda Miata engine in it. Cool little car the owner is a buddy of my Son in Law, super nice young man, bright and hell on wheels man, he has a motor that just will not stop, he thought we were going to have this car done in 3 days. I told him I was giving him a lesson in patience, we spent 4 weeks on this thing. He fly's Black Hawks for the Air National Guard and is being deployed to Iraq next Feb for a year... I though this was a fun thing to do for him his wife and their new Son. When he gets back we are cutting the nose off this thing as the underside is complete Swiss cheese, they make a very cool fiberglass nose for them. These cars are uni-bodies and all steel, they were made in Germany. Pictures are from how it showed up at my house, initial epoxy to cover bare metal, body work, seal, base coat and a shitty clear job... I got talked into using a medium reducer on the clear rather than a slow that I usually use. The stuff just would not flow out and it cost me 20 + hours of color sanding... so there is the relevance to this thread I color sanded my ass off on this tiny little car. View attachment 921328 View attachment 921329 View attachment 921330 View attachment 921331 View attachment 921332 View attachment 921333 View attachment 921334 View attachment 921335 View attachment 921336 View attachment 921337 View attachment 921338 View attachment 921339 View attachment 921340 View attachment 921341 View attachment 921344

That's BaddAss!

 

[cofooter]

My Grandma used to drive one, we thought she was pretty cool!!!