In a rush of blood to the head, this year I decided to polish up the decidedly grungy hull of Touchstone. I only had one day to do it in, so I decided to forsake elbow grease for pounds sterling and buy an electric car polisher. Together with the polisher I needed something to polish it with. The boatyard recommended using marine T Cut, but adnitted that they might use Mer car polish, the nearest place to buy this was half an hour away so I stuck with the T Cut. To finish off I used an old bottle of International hull polish.

It worked pretty well in the event, as you can see from the picture above. I did a first pass with the T-Cut, washed it off, applied the polish, rubbed it away, and got a reasonably clean hull out of it. It didn't shine as much as I would have wished, but it is painted not gelcoat and there were several years grime to get rid of. The polisher worked fairly well -although it got pretty heavy towards the end of the day- the main problem was the poor quality of the buffing bonnet, that fell apart pretty quickly.

Just as I was finishing the boys from the boatyard turned up with a visiting GRP specialist to try out his polish and polisher on the boat next door. The polisher was a much more powerfull modified anglegrinder, and he had a tub of 'miracle paste' to apply. After a very short time a section of the hull was gleaming in a way that put mine to shame, and they were saying that the combination would do them out of painting jobs. So perhaps you would be better off hiring an industrial machine, it would certainly be quicker and you will probably get a better finish.

Last Updated 12/03/2003 ©Free as the Wind 2003