88 242LS Imron Restore
 

It is that time of the year again and after many short term tries at restoring the Imron paint I am seeking advice from you all.

I have red hull sides with black and gray accents. The black and gray have held up extremely well, but the red is starting to show some fading. I have tried multiple compounds which will help for the short term, but after a few months I am back where I started. I have applied the compounds with a single speed buffer which is very light duty because of my fear of burning the paint.

Is there a more aggressive compound/technique to use? Is it safe to wet sand and what results have worked well for others?

As always thank you in advance.

Jed

Jed good to see you still around, that boats awesome, the red on your boat will be gelcoat, the black and grey are imron paint, be very careful with them you will burn thru real easy, as far as the gel Ive always used 3m super compound, but as old as it is its just gonna be a constant upkeep at 20 plus years old unless you wanted to get into painting the sides, a light wet sand might be worth a try, but make sure who does it is experienced and they stay away from the blck/grey

Good seeing you are around too. You have a Cig now I believe, correct?

Here is my ignorance showing......I thought all the colors on the boat were Imron paint? Why is just the red Gelcoat? I was going to take a shot at wet sanding myself. Any good advice or places to seek advice on this?

Thanks.

Jed

nope I got a 271 still, alot of people think that, but nope the red is gel, and the stripes are imron, goes to show how well the imron holds up, however gel is more forgiving with nicks n suck, wet sanding is tricky, especially on colors, I do not know how to do it, well I sorta do but would never do it myself, hopefully someone will chime in for ya

I have a guy coming tomorrow to do a test patch of wet sanding on the red. He tried to compound it, but it wasnt strong enough to bring it back. I will let you know how it turns out after tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I have an 87 242 with red hull sides and I'll also second that it is gel. Mine was almost pink in places it was so faded. I wet sanded the hell out of it with a D/A. I started with 400 grit and worked my way to 800. Then I took 3M super duty to it and finished with Finesse it. I then waxed it with Collenite Fleet wax. You must wax it with collenite or it will just fade back. You also have to go deep enough when sanding to get all of the faded gel off. It's time consuming but not hard.

Wow I thought 400 would be way to aggressive to start with and would burn it up quickly.

The guy who did it brought it back by doing 1000 and going up to 2500 finishing with compound and then a wax. It looks great, but I am currious if it will hold up well or fade after a few months without the aggressive sanding like you had done.

Thanks for the great advice.

When I did my boat I tried a lot of things that were not as agressive none of them worked or if they did it was only temporary. When I sanded with the 400 I did it dry as well. The gel coat is tough, I had a few tough areas that I really went to town on and it looks great. No sanding marks, swirls, ect. I see this spring I have two areas that I can barely see some fading. I'm going to hit those spots again. Other that, its been two years and the boat still looks like it did when I finished it. I have some pictures on here of before and after. Search for 242 restoration.

Here you go!

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/f...storation.html

Thanks that is great information. I still can believe you went at it dry with such an aggressive paper. That still scares me. Any advice.......

How is the boat holding up today after all that work?

Jed

I tried it wet but I was going though way to much paper because the paper kept clogging. So I said screw it, I'm going to try this dry! I only used 400 in the worst areas. 600 was what I used on most of the boat. When I did it, I just used moderate pressure and kept the D/A moving. DON'T touch the Imron with it, you will certainly ruin the paint but again gel coat is tougher than you may think. Try it in a hidden area maybe the underside of the swim platform, then move out to the hull!

Great thanks. So I am going to start sanding this weekend on the red gel coat, but when I get to the buffing stage can I buff the whole boat gel and imron?

I did buff my Imron but you need to be careful. Its best to use a foam pad on the imron and wool on the fiberglass. Just take it slow and be careful. When I did my boat I started with 800 and that wasn't enough so I kept working down. Each time I would buff with 3M Super Duty to see the results. Once I figured out what I needed I then did the whole boat.

If you want send me some pictures of your boat, its possible that just a great buffer and the right compound my do the trick. My e-mail is [email protected]

be EXTREMELY careful with the imron, it doesn't take much to screw it up

OK so here is where I am.

I hit a 3 foot section of the red with 600 and then 1000 wet sanding. I then moved to 3M Imperial Compound, followed by 3M Peferct It Finish Compound followed up with Collintie 925 Wax.

The results look pretty great, but I am going to let it sit for a few days and see if it "holds".

Final questions, when I do the Pefect It can I use this on the Imron? Bottle says it is for removing swirls from 1200-1500 sanding. Also has anyone used the Collonite 925 because it says to put it on by hand let it haze and then take off by hand. Can I apply or take off with the machine and a foam pad?

Thanks.

Jed

Honestly you are playing with fire if you touch the imron with more then wax and especially with a wheel, do the red and just put a good wax on the black/gray imron,

e-mail me some pictures and I'll post them on here! As for the wax, I've always applied it by hand and I've buffed my Imron but thats me. I'm currently buffing my deck on the 292 and my Imron needs to be repainted on top. I hit a few spots with the wool pad just to see what would happen. At 1200 rpms it turned out nice, but if the side of the pad touched the imron, good buy imron. Again, I'm repainting it so who cares. Glad to hear thing are working out!

How is this project coming along?

Well so far I have wet sanded with 600, 800, and then 1000 followed by the imperial compound. I am not fully happy with the results because you can still see some fine scratches as well as not all the oxidation being gone. There is a minimal "marble" look still.

I have been doing it all by hand and it is killing me so i have paper for the electric orbital in the mail now and hoping that will eat the oxidation more.

Any ideas?

I'm not a fan of imperial, try 3M superduty. I'm also not sure on using an electric sander, I've always used an air sander. Red is a real b!tch to bring back, just take it slow.

I dont have access to an air sander. I was hoping the electric with an foam pad and then the paper would work just as a DA would.

Why do you think the scratches are not buffing out completely? Should I sand with a higher than 1000 grit? I tried to get a picture, but cant capture the scratches.

With the DA dry what was the finish you were looking for on the boat before compounding? An even dull faded red? In addition, how tough is the gelcoat because I am still scared of burning through it especially with the electric sander?

It's not going to hurt going up to 1000 grit or higher. I've never used an electric sander on gel, I suppose it's the same. As far as gel goes, I would sand and then wash the boat, and look very closely for clouds in the gel. If I saw cloudly gel I would sand more in that area. The boat wet is what it will look like polished.

Well the electric sander with a 1/2 inch foam interface pad and the dry sanding disks is the ticket plus the 3m Super Duty is the ticket item. The boat is turning out amazing!!!!!!!

Can I hit the imron with any compound or just save the polish for it?

Thanks so much for all the help!

Just polish the imron. i promise it will look new

e-mail me some pics and I'll post them on here for you! I'm glad the electric sander worked out, hand sanding an entire boat is a joke. I did my first formula that way and it took FOREVER!

Ok, so I have to pipe in here; I had to sand out a blue-sided
'88 242. I started with 800, went to 1000, then finished with 1500. All wet with a good block. You need to let it totally dry after each sand so you can see where you need to hit it again. The gel should be evenly "deglossed" after each course of sanding. You also need to sand in one direction, NOT circular. The circular action of buffing will then be able to buff across the scratch lines rather than along the scratch lines. That is important!!

Dry sanding will result in paper clogs that build up in local areas on the paper and result in nasty scratch lines. Wet is the only way to get it nice and even. Spend the money and change paper often. I firmly believe in going beyond the grit level that the buffing polish says it will remove. If the polish says it will take out 1200 grit scratches, sand down to 1500. That's how you get nice deep lasting finish. After I got done with that blue 242, it honestly looked like it had been freshly painted. Lasted two seasons then I sold it. No idea how well it held up after that.

I am saying this with 100% authority and knowledge. i am a painter of 15 years everything from dupont chroma base on cars to imron 600 and imron elite on the late model over the road trucks. DO NOT start with 400. you will take off to much material to fast. 1000 would be the coarsest i would use on gel or imron. 3M makes a rubbing compound in a one gallon paint can that is made for gel coat. it is what i used on my 87 223 ls. it goes along way and unfortunately you cant buy it in smaller cans. it will work on the imron also but it will buff fast and you dont want to stay on it long because you will burn the paint off. finish up with 3M 5993 finesse it compound for swirl marks and then put a good marine wax on it. car wax will not hold up.