Shiny gelcoat again

[Salty19]

Nick, I agree with your method and I bet it looks great. Almost all of our boats could use a real machine and sequenced compounding and polishing. Then and only then wax.  Sand if chaulky.

Skip you're finish must be in good shape if you don't need compound.  Then again the way you care for the boat it doesn't surprise me.

My 1982 16 was dull, but not chalky. So I fire up the Porter cable random orbital polisher that I use on the autos, started with 3 passes of 3M Rubbing Compound with decreasing hardness pads, 1 pass of 3M Finesse Glaze with polisher, hand rubbed GelGloss (looks and smells like Finesse), then 3M Marine Wax by hand. 

Admittedly I've only done the outer hull and minor topside so far and the results show the noticeable difference between bright bottom and dull topsides. The forward areas of the hull look spectacular for a 27 year old boat, the aft hull not so much, looks like more wear here and probably need to sand and start over again there.  Next season! 

Speaking of spit and polish, Does anyone use Plexus on their boats to routinely clean/polish the dirty cockpit at the slip?  Great stuff,very happy with it on motorcycle windshields. On the label says to use on fiberglass. West Marine sells it as well.

The machine takes a huge amount of work out of the equation and does a much better job for professional results for the outer hull and smooth cockpit areas.