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Hi. Have a Newport 17 1981. Hull isnt bad a few dings and gel coat gouges. After I fix them can I get a Great shine on this boat with a wheel and compound or do I have to repaint it. Does Maako or any of the big car paint shops do this kind of work on boats?
It sounds like you should be able to repair the dings and match the gel coat. Use the search feature on this site for more details. You can do wonders with compound and wax. You will need a power buffer of course but you can get one for $39. at Harbour Freight.
Maaco paint shops are individually owned. Some of them do paint boats, especially in communities with lots of them. Maaco paint will often peel if you don't prep the boat yourself first i.e. wash off all wax and sand it to 320 grit and remove all hardware. I had them paint my mom's old Accord several years ago and then sold the car to my neighbor's teenager. He kept the car for five years and the paint still looked great when he totalled it. It did not fade or peel. If you go with Maaco please share the details with us via a personal page.
I have not had the ambition to wet sand and compound my Montauk and 4 years ago repaired my holes and finished the hull ,interior and exterior with Poly Glow and have maintained a nice shine with it since. Very easy to apply and very easy to clean
I took a polisher to both my Montauk and Outrage 17 and in 2/3 a day (wash, compound, finish and wax, both looked fantastically better than I imagined, despite being more than 10 years old.
If the gelcoat is chalky (wipe with your finger) use a heavy duty compound. If not chalky, start with a medium duty. Meguire's 44 is one brand. Do a test area and you can see the difference.
I would avoid any non-marine establishment. Refinishing a boat is nothing like a car. Then again, it's your boat.
How bad is the boat? the standard way to bring back gelcoat is as follows
Color restorer -> Finess it II -> wax
if that doesn't work the use
rubbing compound -> color restorer -> finess it II->wax
You can use buff magic in place of the rubbing compound and depending on how much shine you get, skip the finess it II and go straight to wax. If the hull is too oxidezed for buff magic, then you will need to wet sand starting with 400 grit and work you way to 1200 grit, followed by finess it II and then wax.
