Hi All,
Has anybody used a 3M Scotch Brite pad to clean (slight sand) their hull before polishing?
Im thinking of using the white pad which I believe is approximately 1000 grit, Ive used a green scotch bite on an Eva Kool esky with great results, but I think the green (about 600 grit from memory and not too worried about the shine) might be too much for a 20 yr hull where I do not know how much sanding/polishing the boat has had in the past.
I think you will find a decent cutting compound used with a mechanical Buff will be far more effective than wet rubbing with those foam backed 3m pads which will more than likely clog up with any existing wax that may still be on the hull.
They could be used for fine scratches or used as a applicator to apply the compound with , but personally I wouldn't bother if the machine and compound is doing the work for you. 
Select to expand quotesouthace said..
I think you will find a decent cutting compound used with a mechanical Buff will be far more effective than wet rubbing with those foam backed 3m pads which will more than likely clog up with any existing wax that may still be on the hull.
They could be used for fine scratches or used as a applicator to apply the compound with , but personally I wouldn't bother if the machine and compound is doing the work for you.
southace with your experience, what brand of cutting compound would you recommend? also would you recommend an acid wash before polishing. thanks mate
Would suggest to not use a scotch brite pad of any grade on your gelcoat. There are many web links of issues all seeming to include dull patches left behind in all areas the scotch brite touched. eg
continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/011449.html
3M do many products directed at your needs depending on the condition of the gelcoat. For a 20yr year old hull in reasonable condition would expect you won't need more than one or two stages to buff/clean and re-polish the finish.
www.3m.com.au/3M/en_AU/p/d/b40066666/
Any form of sanding with still require cutting with a good quality cutting compound with an electric buffer. When I do my boat it is a long hard process, but worth it in the end. My process is.
1. Wash the boat with an anti salt wash then clean the boat with Black streak remover.
2.Clean the boat again with Ronstan gelcoat restore or some other form of deck wash to remove rust stains and brown stain. Note this will leave the boat completely unprotected of any wax.
3. Cut the boat with an electric buffer and a quality wool buff pad with 3m Heavy Cutting compound to remove all oxidation The boat should now be starting to look good but is still totally unprotected.
4. Re polish the boat now with 3m Light Cut and Wax and best to use a random orbital polisher (21mm orbit. Milwaukee now make a very good one now). This will start the re waxing process.
5. The final and most important stage is to re seal the boat with a good quality wax.As the boat should now be totally free of any oxidisation and the wax application is quite easy to apply and buff by hand. The best wax I have found is Collinite Insulator Wax which is a liquid or Collinite Fleet wax which is a hard wax.
6. You can now give the boat a quick polish over with the random orbital polisher with a clean wool buff pad. And the boat will look a million dollars.
After the above, every 6 months just wash the boat down with an anti salt wash, clean with Black streak remover, spot clean any rust marks and re wax the boat with Collinite Insulator Wax.
i believe using a Scotch pad wouldn't be any help as you will spend more time trying to buff out the scratch marks. If you have to sand use 2000 wet and dry.
Believe me it's hard work especially when your boat is 57', but worth it in the end.
Thanks All for the replies.
My goal was to strip the atrocious (pro) polish job from last year where there are swirl marks and unpolished polish all over the boat. The yards claim being that the gelcoat is worn and the boat needs a repaint - but I call BS.
It looks like Jode5 has the products and method needed to do the job. 
