It only took 8 hours, but the boat is done.
It was beautiful weather for boat detailing too. It was low 90s and breezy. It even rained for maybe 20 minutes. I was already pretty much done with the outside when it rained and just wiped it down again before I left, so the rain didn't really hurt anything. I have to say that boat detailing is an interesting experience. I know we can't post pics of customer's cars, but what about customer's boats?
I'll have to check on that before I do it. I'll post my process anyway.
I have to say that I am sooooooooo glad that there are Edge 2000 pads in the world today. Typical hook and loop pads would not have made me happy. I had to wash the pad out so many times and I was using the PC for so long that I am certian I would have gone through at least 3 or 4 traditional pads. My fingers are the only part of me that hurts today simply because I had to grip that vibrating PC for a good 3 or 4 solid hours. In my opinion, if you are going to use a PC for boat detailing, then the Edge 2000 pads are the only way to go. Dwayne warned me that a rotary is the tool of choice for boat detailing, and I believe him now. This was a lot of work with a PC.
Gelcoat is an interesting thing to work on. It isn't anything like paint, other than the fact that obviously it oxidizes like paint. I didn't think using an abrasive product would really matter, so I grabbed my bottle of Four Star 4-40. It is basically similar to AIO in that it is a chemically abrasive one step cleaner/sealant. I brought my whole aresenal to the site with me, so if this didn't work then I had a lot of Plan Bs that I could fall back on.
The 4-40 cut through the oxidation like butter. The problem was in buffing the product back off after I applied it. I did one side using the method of applying the product and then trying to buff it off using the damp/dry towel technique that works so well with SG. It worked ok, but it still seemed to be way more work than necessary. So on the other side I applied the product and then flipped the pad over and buffed it off that way. It worked waaaaaaaaay better. That side took half the time the other one did. I wiped down both sides with the Wolfgang spray sealant just for good measure, but it looked pretty dang spiffy after just cleaning with the 4-40.
The trailer needed a bit of cleaning too. I don't know what they used to paint it with, but originally it was some sort of brown laquer or something. It was pretty oxidized and the owner wanted that cleaned too. So I bust out the PC and orange Edge 2000 pad again and went to work. It cleaned up nice and easy now that I figured out the secret to buffing the product back off.
Honestly, the hardest part of the exterior was getting inside some emblems that were on it. It had large chrome letters that spelled out "FOUR WINNS" on the side. Getting in the O and R was a huge pain. Luckily for me the 'WINNS" fell off of one of the sides and I was able to use the PC on the whole area before I remounted it. I always carry trim mounting tape with me on details these days. You never know when it will come in handy.
My boat terminology sucks, so I'm just going to call it the cockpit. This area was pretty dirty. I guess that is what happens to 20 year old boats that pretty much stay parked for the most part. The seats were white and burgandy vinyl and needless to say, it looked more like white and black vinyl. lol It wasn't anything that
Poorboy's Leather Stuff and a tooth brush didn't fix though.
I cleaned the walls and floor with Spray & Wipe. There was carpet on the floor, but the edges needed to be wiped down. There was also the footprints I was putting on the back part of the boat as I was getting on and off, so Spray & Wipe was a huge help. There were also some colored surfaces that were oxidizing just like the exterior, so I bust out the Powerball and went to work. I can post this picture because there aren't any rules about posting pictures of sinks.
Most of what the cockpit required was vinyl cleaning and general surface cleaning. Spray and Wipe did the trick for most of that. For the vinyl cleaning I used Leather Stuff and Meguiar's #39. I also used Bold N Bright on some black textured surfaces. I'm not really sure what these areas were for other than maybe keeping things from sliding around. They were under the windshield and I can't imagine them being for foot traction. Anyway, Bold N Bright cleaned it up nicely.
The cabin was just like cleaning a house. Not a whole lot to say about that. If you have ever cleaned your basement then you know how to clean the cabin. It wasn't too bad really. Just time consuming.
The job wasn't hard really, it just took a lot of time. If you haven't developed a process for using some of your products then I can see a job like this taking way more than 8 hours. I know I was being efficient with my process and that is why it only took as long as it did. Having the right products with me helped out a ton too. I probably only used half of the products I brought with me, but I was glad I had back up plans when certian techniques or products didn't work.
My saviors on this job were my ladder, 4-40, the PC with the orange Edge 2000 pad, and spray & wipe. I was working on something and saw this great image of those products and had to snap a shot for posterity.
. Anyway Congrats on your Detail, hope ypu get a few jobs from this one .. 
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