New SeaDek and Question About Scratches

Hey, thought I would post a pic of my new Seadek pad:
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1276186090

Also, I have some really bad scratches/marks on my transom and I'm hoping someone can give me some insights as to how best remove them:
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1276186187
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1276186247
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/w...ictures103.jpg

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Since I'm planning on replacing the stickers I figured I should also try to get rid of or hide some of these marks.

Most of those will rub out. Try some elbow grease or a buffer and some rubbing compound. The worst ones may have to be sanded a bit if you're serious. Start with some 800 paper and be very gentle- then go to 1000, then 1200 then 1600. THen buff with rubbing compound then polishing compound, then wax it. BE CAREFUL with sandpaper. Lots of times using rubbing compound will get rid of the whitish or blackish color of the mark or even change the color of the scratch back to the boat color so it's more or less invisible. So only sand in worst case scenarios.

Oh yeah, love the pad- tastful understatement- something I am trying to teach my daughters along with the difference between "classic" and "trendy".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kaneboats

Most of those will rub out. Try some elbow grease or a buffer and some rubbing compound. The worst ones may have to be sanded a bit if you're serious. Start with some 800 paper and be very gentle- then go to 1000, then 1200 then 1600. THen buff with rubbing compound then polishing compound, then wax it. BE CAREFUL with sandpaper. Lots of times using rubbing compound will get rid of the whitish or blackish color of the mark or even change the color of the scratch back to the boat color so it's more or less invisible. So only sand in worst case scenarios.

Oh yeah, love the pad- tastful understatement- something I am trying to teach my daughters along with the difference between "classic" and "trendy".

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Thanks man! I'll give it a go with the rubbing compound first and then see what's left.

Try acetone, it works great on some marks and mar's. Just don't get it on your stickers/decals.
Otherwise, wet sand with 1000 grit then buff with a highspeed buffer with wool pad. Mequiars diamond cut 2.0 compound is what I use.
Aqua

Went with 3M Rubbing Compound and it took most of them out:
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1276486173

Looks like it worked great. Followed my own advice when I got home today. I had a new scratch on the LR corner. No idea how it got there. Buffed it out with some rubbing compound.