Can't find anything. Everything is related to gel coat. I'm going for a complete paint correction using Wolfgang products and going to finish with Collinite 845.

Does is make sense to start with clay bar or forget it?

I like to clay bar my stuff to get the crap off so I don't grind it in to the paint.
Not sure if I'm wasting my time or not, but that's how I do it.

That's kind of my thought process. The boat is stored indoors, never seen salt, and only been out overnight a handful of times. But, I figured if I'm going to go all out I should consider doing clay also.

A trick I learned from the Autogeek site was to put a ziplock baggie over your hand and run it across the surface - if it feels rough then clay bar it.

What product and procedure do you use when you clay bar? Asking as I have never used one. Not trying to hijack, seems to go with the thread.

BTW....love Mitchell T's work.


Padraig

I clay bar the cars and boat which is also paint, not gel. Make a huge difference in removing contaminants that you can't see. I even started doing the windshield on the car with it. I just used some cheap spray detailer to let it slide around easier. Wash first, then clay then whatever polish/ wax method you prefer.

Gents - FORGET the clay bar and use a mitt. I discovered the mitt through my research. Instead of clay you have to kneed, that's small, and is likely to be dropped when doing a boat, you can use a clay mitt and detail spray as lube.

I picked up an eagle 1 mitt and spray at auto zone but have a nano skin headed to the house. For the heck of it I did the hood of my cobra last night, which has never been clayed, and did so in about 3 minutes. WOW. I was dreading claying the boat because it's big. Now, after this, I can wait to do it because of the difference it makes! Now I'm pumped to do it.

I think I found a new evening hobby in the garage. Detailing. This seriously bade it fun because it's a no brainer.

As for process, clay and then add your coat of wax if you don't need to correct the paint (swirls). Follow the wax with a sealant to pro long the wax life and for that smooth feeling.

As mentioned, throw a plastic bag on your hand and run it over the cleaned surface before you start your work. The texture is insane. I'm going to clay, Polish (for swirl removal) wax, seal, and then seal again. This will bring the colors to life in a whole new way while providing a super slick surface which makes wiping down a breeze.


Here's a few vids

https://youtu.be/tG6-Ae1wgug

https://youtu.be/GFCJuSahCGE

The clay sort of absorbs the crap it takes off and doesn't keep rubbing it on the surface where do the contaminants go with that rubber pad? I see a few drawbacks with that mit. Clay isn't quite the pita he claims in the vid and seems to have a few advantages.

You rinse the mitt off or wipe it off. For me, it makes sense and will make the process easy. If I had a car attending the Amelia Concours d'Elegance I'm sure the vehicle would be done with clay. But I'm the sap that's going to do the entire boat with clay, swirl remover, finishing glaze, deep gloss paint sealant, and collinite 845. That's a 5 trip, top to bottom, front to back exercise and I'll take any help I can get. The mitt seems to be taking the place of traditional clays for that reason.

The clay spreads out while using it to the size of your palm so you can basically clay it as fast as you can rub your hand around. You can also ball it up to do narrow areas. You can force it in tight cracks and crevices to remove old wax and other junk. It perfectly conforms to every contour and can get in grill and bumper cutouts (car obviously). Since it's soft the contaminants sink into it and aren't forced to rub on the paint surface. Folding the clay is just something that comes naturally after you've done it for a few minutes. Basically you just squeeze it in your hand every now and then when you are spraying or stepping back to look at your work. The clay comes in a bigger ball than you can use at once so it's up to you how big you make it and like I said it flattens out to the size of your hand so its not like you're trying to do the whole boat with something the size of a quarter. Anyway that's my experience with clay for what it's worth.