Question on Bad Oxidation, photos included

[yanks_178]

I currently am working on a 1992 Crownline that has not been washed in at least 5 years they sad. Heavy oxidation and many scratches from the dock (found about 2 cases of beer cans so not surprised). I washed it using Megs Gold Class and then hit it with 105 on a Megs W400 wool pad on my Dewalt Rotary with fast results and it looked good. I then hit it with 205 using the rotary with Megs W800. I topped it off with Megs Boat Wax. It looked fantastic and then this morning I went to finish it and noticed the oxidation was back already. I thought maybe it was the shade or something when I originally buffed it so I went at it again with 205, no improvement and then with 105 followed by 205, no improvement again.
The customer is going to be ecstatic with it but I am not. Does anybody have any other ideas on this or do I just chalk it up as it is as good as it is going to get?
Photos
Before:

50/50

This morning:


After 105 and 205 for again:




Any help would be appreciated!! Thanks!

[CieraSL]

Re: Question on Bad Oxidation, photos included

Well, I'd wash the wheels on that trailer, for one thing!

[Murr1525]

Re: Question on Bad Oxidation, photos included

Its possible that if the paint is shot, its shot.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Question on Bad Oxidation, photos included

You might try buffing with some M45 Boat Polish or some #3 Machine Glaze. #3 Machine Glaze should be fairly easy to find at any PBE Store.

Clean a section with the M205 about 2' by 2', this will effectively remove any wax and get you back to a clean base.

Now try machine polishing this section with a pure polish like the M45 or M03, you could opt for M07 but it's not recommended for application with a rotary buffer, DA, Hand or Orbital.

After really doing a good job of polishing this section now apply a coat of your boat wax and then see what happens.

That looks like a blue gel-coat boat and if so then the polishing oils should penetrate into the gel-coat to some level and help to bring out the color and create a more uniform appearance. Then seal it up with wax.

If this doesn't help then you have two options, re-cut with the M105 and really chew off some material to get past the dead gel-coat or call it good and accept that it might not be able to be fixed.

[modernenigma]

Re: Question on Bad Oxidation, photos included

Pic 5 is what I have going on with mine (only in white). Getting shiny, but still has oxidation.

Mike, i see you recommending auto products, I thought you suggested using Boat/RV products for fiberglass due to the nature of much harder gelcoat vs. auto paint.

For my problem, I ordered the M91 Heavy Cut Compound and a Solo pad. Will see how it turns out.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Question on Bad Oxidation, photos included

Mike, i see you recommending auto products, I thought you suggested using Boat/RV products for fiberglass due to the nature of much harder gelcoat vs. auto paint.

The automotive products are "pure poshes" with high concentrations of Meguiar's polishing oils, gel-coats are usually porous enough to absorb these oils and this will do two things,

1) It will fill any voids in the gel-coat with these oils so water can't take up residency and cause oxidation

2) It will bring out the color of the gel-coat. (Even white gel-coat).


Compounding or chewing off the dead oxidized gel-coat is a great start but after that you want to re-introduce these polishing oils before applying wax. Otherwise you just expose a fresh layer of polyester resin and the seal over it with wax and it's the polishing process that revitalizes the color.