Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

[Garry Dean]

Some of you may remember this boat from the meet I hosted at my shop a few weeks ago. I got started on this boat and then it started raining cats and dogs for several days so I got behind. I had this boat for 10 days. Over the 10 days I put 20 hours into this detail. This was the worst boat I have done in a while.

I received a call from a gentleman from ffice:smarttags" />Jacksonville, FL (3 hours north of me) who saw some of my work and posts on Autopia.org. He told me that he was impressed by my work. He also said that for the life of him he couldn’t find a detailer on my level in his area (what an ego stroke, lol). He told me that the boat was bought new by his brother in 1996 who then moved to Georgia and let it sit. He recently purchased the boat from his brother and decided to restore it. In the month before driving the boat down to my shop to drop it off he had the 7.4L big block 454 rebuilt and all new interior installed. As you will see in the pictures this boat was severely oxidized. The boat was actually red, white gel coat over a red gel coat base coat. This detail was supposed to only take 3 days, but it turned into 10 because of the rain.

The process:

* Washed boat with Dawn.
* Clay bar with Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay.
* Wet sanded entire boat with Meguiars 1000, 2000, and 3000 Unigrit sand paper.
* All compounding was done with Makita 9227C rotary and LC backing plates.
* Compounded all red gel coat with Four Star Medium Cut Compound (OEM Line) and Four Star 7.5” Aggressor and Avenger wool pads.
* Meguiars M105 and 4” LC Purple Foamed Wool on all white gel coat areas.
* Meguiars Last Touch detail spray was used to help remove the polish residue.

NOTE: I tried about 5 different polishes to do the finishing work, but I settled on Meguiars Ultimate Compound, believe it or not, because it finished the best while giving a little more much needed cut.

* Finish polishing was done with a Meguiars G110 and 4” and 5.5” LC Orange CCS pads.
* The gel coat was sealed with the first coat of Four Star Ultimate Paint Protection.
* The boat was left for 24 hours so that the FS UPP could cure properly before a second coat.
* Final wash was done with Optimum Car Wash soap (this stuff smells amazing and works very well).
* Dried with The Absorber.
* Second coat of FS UPP.
* Finished with Meguiars Ultimate Quik Wax.

Now for some pictures! Here are the befores!

[Garry Dean]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

You can see my test/teaser spot I did when the owner dropped it off.

I didn’t do much to the interior as it was brand new, but here is a pic from the bow.

[Garry Dean]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

So now the fun begins!

Taped up for a 50/50



Compound applied



After compounding



Some during shots







50/50 shots!











Super thick and gross as the rain drops begin to fall.





Removal of steps



It took 3 compounding trys to get the transom back to clarity

[Garry Dean]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

RAIN!!!!

After some pouring rain!





Can you see a difference yet?



Another 50/50





More progress







Yup, more rain, lol





I finish polished with Meguiars Ultimate Compound and orange LC CCS pads



Trying to get some work done between the rain



Finially, some clarity!









This out drive area was extremely tough area to make look like this

[Garry Dean]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

Final wash before the client showed up.

Are you ready for some afters?















Interior all cleaned up

[Garry Dean]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

A shot of the interior from the stern



This got polished too















And a happy client picking the boat up for the 3 hour drive back to ffice:smarttags" />Jacksonville



Thanks for looking!!

[Eddie6th]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

Nice work...

Good to see something different.great to see that color pop.

[Mikejl]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!B

Good write up and excellent work! That 13 year old boat looks new. I bet the owner drove the whole 3 hours home glancing in the rear view mirror and smiling.

Mike

PS: I think you were short 8 pictures

[davidadavila]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

looks awsome man, one thing i miss about California is the 100 percent no rain law, its weird that it rains here in the summer so much...it kind of messed up that you spend hours making you car look good take it to a show and then have rain fall and kill your spirits and shiny car....i found that i love winter here more now because the car stays shiny most of the time....besides that love tampa.....

[CieraSL]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

Sweet! Nice job!

[FLINTstone]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

the owner must not have seen the boat in that condition since he got it! awesome transformation

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

Gerry, great work on the boat. I was wondering if you finished it up. Looks great. I bet the owner was thrilled with all your hard work. Way to go.

[Garry Dean]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

Thanks for all of the compliments!

[Andrew C.]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

Awesome Work! This reminds me from a question someone asked in another thread. How did you polish the areas where the boat rests on the trailer? Or did you just not go that far down since no one would see it anyways?

[Garry Dean]

Re: Premium Detailed 1996 Cobalt 22ft boat!

Awesome Work! This reminds me from a question someone asked in another thread. How did you polish the areas where the boat rests on the trailer? Or did you just not go that far down since no one would see it anyways?

You answered your own question!