Blue Hull Scratches

[Miss_Dallie]

Ahoy all,
I purchased my 2011 blue hull 14 months ago and have accumulaed several scratches in the blue coat (paint?) of the hull. The scratches are superficial and if on my car I would use rubing compound. Since this is my first boat and the hull is certainly different from my car, I thought I'd ask the peeps in the know; that's you guys and gals. I'm sure I've come to the right place. Any advice (besides "I should have bought a white hull 26M")?

Ron
Miss Dallie

[bwygirl]

You can use a powerbuffer with a very soft new pad to remove the surface scratches. The blue is gelcoat, not paint, and can be buffed and waxed. We use a product called finesse-it, this is a white light rubbing compound. After buffing you can wash the boat and then wax. Should look real nice when you are done.

[RobertB]

Don't listen to anyone who tells you to buff off all the blue so it will go faster.

You may also need to apply some blue gelcoat and buff out if the scratches are through the blue. Repair kits from West Marine and Blue Water Yachts (BWY sells a paste repair kit also).

[jbousquin]

Hey Ron,

Just a word of caution here: My 2011 blue hull's gelcoat, which has also picked up a lot of small scratches, is pretty soft. A professional boat restorer who has won awards for restoring antique hulls said it seemed to him that the gelcoat hadn't cured properly. In some instances, you could put a scratch in it with your fingernail.

I brought this to the attention of my dealer, who let Roger know about it. They basically said they were not going to re-spray the hull, and that the gelcoat was fine. The restorer disagreed, but I never got any farther with it than that. That said, I'd encourage you to let your dealer know about it as well, and ask them to let the factory know, too.

I've mentioned it before here: http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... es#p240146 and Kittiwake says his 2010 seems soft, too.

Bottom line is this: Because the gelcoat is soft, be very careful when using a buffer and rubbing compounds such as Finesse It. On my boat, it is very easy to start buffing right through the gelcoat to the hull itself -- you'll start seeing little black dots coming through.

Before buffing, I would recommend using acetone on a rag to take out the smallest scratches. I'm then considering very localized hand sanding with very fine grit sand paper (1200+) to take out any others. The key is not using a buffer, which can go through the gelcoat very quickly.

I would also think twice about applying wax to your hull, as wax can trap air on the gelcoat, which leads to oxidation, which usually needs to be taken out by buffing, which might not be the recommended route for your boat. I try using a soft lamb swool buffing pad without any rubbing compound on it first to see if you can get it to shine without wax.

I'd also be interested in hearing if the fingernail test applies to your 2011 blue hull as well: just take your thumbnail, and try to scratch your hull. Do it in several places. If it leaves a mark, you know those spots are soft.

Good luck, Joe

[bwygirl]

No, I did not tell you to buff off all the blue so it would go faster.....
But, I do know that we have been buffing and waxing very successfully for 25 years! I personally try to avoid that job, so tonight I will have Todd send a reply. He is the one who does the buffing, I do a little waxing at least unill my arms drop off. Our black hull boat has come back to us for sale, you should have seen it! The boat was grey and very dull and had scratches. After professionally wet sanding, buffing, and waxing she is shinny and beautiful again! We will be taking La Perla Noir to our rendezvous to show her off, should anyone like to stop by to see it. We also have a blue hull boat we just buffed out that had lots of scratches on it, the customer was super suprised at the outcome as it looked new! We have one other blue boat here now a 2007 that we plan to buff. Yes, you do need to be careful with the buffer so that you do not go through the gel coat. If you have trouble with buffing it could be the technique, the pads used, or trouble with something else. Watch for Todd's reply tonight as you might find it useful, hope so...

[Québec 1]

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... ng#p219562
Good thread on scratch fixing.


Q1

[Miss_Dallie]

Great information. Thanks for sharing the thread. The gel coat on my seems to be pretty soft, it scratches easily. the scratches show whitish blue which leads me to belive I could be asking for trouble if I'm not cautious. I don't want trouble...

this is one of my worse scratches...


is there hope since it is still blue(ish)?

[madguy]

It's no good trying to take the Blue off, you have to purchase the faster white hulled model to get the speed


Madguy

[DaveB]

Ron, gelcoat at layup should be between 15-20 mils thick. My 1997 macX never got to 10 mils thick and black less than 5 mils.
Quality control. Less is better for cost for manifacture.
Results 10 years down the line , Regelcoat the whole boat.
Dave

Hey Ron,

Just a word of caution here: My 2011 blue hull's gelcoat, which has also picked up a lot of small scratches, is pretty soft. A professional boat restorer who has won awards for restoring antique hulls said it seemed to him that the gelcoat hadn't cured properly. In some instances, you could put a scratch in it with your fingernail.

I brought this to the attention of my dealer, who let Roger know about it. They basically said they were not going to re-spray the hull, and that the gelcoat was fine. The restorer disagreed, but I never got any farther with it than that. That said, I'd encourage you to let your dealer know about it as well, and ask them to let the factory know, too.

I've mentioned it before here: http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... es#p240146 and Kittiwake says his 2010 seems soft, too.

Bottom line is this: Because the gelcoat is soft, be very careful when using a buffer and rubbing compounds such as Finesse It. On my boat, it is very easy to start buffing right through the gelcoat to the hull itself -- you'll start seeing little black dots coming through.

Before buffing, I would recommend using acetone on a rag to take out the smallest scratches. I'm then considering very localized hand sanding with very fine grit sand paper (1200+) to take out any others. The key is not using a buffer, which can go through the gelcoat very quickly.

I would also think twice about applying wax to your hull, as wax can trap air on the gelcoat, which leads to oxidation, which usually needs to be taken out by buffing, which might not be the recommended route for your boat. I try using a soft lamb swool buffing pad without any rubbing compound on it first to see if you can get it to shine without wax.

I'd also be interested in hearing if the fingernail test applies to your 2011 blue hull as well: just take your thumbnail, and try to scratch your hull. Do it in several places. If it leaves a mark, you know those spots are soft.

Good luck, Joe