Fixing scratches, compound doesn't work

Have some scratches on our 2010. I bought some meguiars #67 and used a Porter Cable random orbital buffer with a purple foamed wool pad, supposed to be the most aggressive from lake country. Scratches still there, although if I run my fingernail over them it doesn't catch and I can barely feel them there.

Is my only recourse fine wet sanding than doing the procedure over again? I know gel coat is hard to work with than paint clear coat so I was hoping to get decent results from the 67 meguiars but looks like I may need a different approach.

Right now I added poor boys black hole polish to it so its hiding the scratches but when you look up close you can still see them

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Originally Posted by loudsubz

Have some scratches on our 2010. I bought some meguiars #67 and used a Porter Cable random orbital buffer with a purple foamed wool pad, supposed to be the most aggressive from lake country. Scratches still there, although if I run my fingernail over them it doesn't catch and I can barely feel them there.

Is my only recourse fine wet sanding than doing the procedure over again? I know gel coat is hard to work with than paint clear coat so I was hoping to get decent results from the 67 meguiars but looks like I may need a different approach.

Right now I added poor boys black hole polish to it so its hiding the scratches but when you look up close you can still see them

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Explain the scratches and color combo. If you have a black boat and your seeing white at the bottom of the scratch that means you have gone all the way through the color gel coat and into the next layer, there is no getting that out. If the scratch is just a dull mark on the gel coat best advice is to go with a heavy rubbing compound then work it out from there. If that doesn't do it then go with 1500 wet sand and work out from there. Just be careful not to go too deep.

I think gel coat is harder than paint but you should be able to get them out, just be careful with the machine. If you see white scratches on a black boat your already through the gel coat and there is nothing you can do.

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Originally Posted by chadjitsu1

Explain the scratches and color combo. If you have a black boat and your seeing white at the bottom of the scratch that means you have gone all the way through the color gel coat and into the next layer, there is no getting that out. If the scratch is just a dull mark on the gel coat best advice is to go with a heavy rubbing compound then work it out from there. If that doesn't do it then go with 1500 wet sand and work out from there. Just be careful not to go too deep.

I think gel coat is harder than paint but you should be able to get them out, just be careful with the machine. If you see white scratches on a black boat your already through the gel coat and there is nothing you can do.

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No combo just all black hull.

I do have some deep scratches as well that I can see the white so I know I won't be able todo much to those with compound, but the ones I wanted to work on are only visible close up and on an angle. I think they were caused by dirt on the hull still when it was getting cleaned. Will give 1500 grit a try. Any word on the meguiars? Maybe it isn't tough enough for what I want to do. Any other suggestions on compounds?

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Originally Posted by loudsubz

No combo just all black hull.

I do have some deep scratches as well that I can see the white so I know I won't be able todo much to those with compound, but the ones I wanted to work on are only visible close up and on an angle. I think they were caused by dirt on the hull still when it was getting cleaned. Will give 1500 grit a try. Any word on the meguiars? Maybe it isn't tough enough for what I want to do. Any other suggestions on compounds?

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If you go to an automotive paint supply company they will have all kinds of stuff you can use that will work really good for this. Those places have a number of different grit level compounds you can use. I wouldn't go to a place like autozone, I would look for a place that supplies and mixes paint for body shops and dealers. There should be one close to you, they are all over the place. I have some stuff I have been using for years that I got from one of these places, it doesn't have a name brand on it but it works amazing and smells like bananas. I use it with a wool pad. I would contact one of those places.

You could just look up something like "house of color" online and find a dealer. House of color is a paint that specializes in candy type paint, usually the dealers are very knowledgeable about this type of stuff