what grit sand paper?

I have a few surface scratches in my gel coat. What grit sand or wet sand paper should I use? also any suggestions would be great!!! thanks.

1000-1500-2000 DEPENDING ON EXPERIENCE, sand a little with each grit working your way up to 2000 then buff... take it easy with the 1000 grit.. or you could just hit it with the 1000 then buff..

start with 220,320,400,600,1000 then buff ,been doing gel coat repairs for 30 years

Don't know why you would need to start with 220, seems a bit aggresive. I started with 1500 and finished with 2000 then the rubbing compound, polish and wax.

220 would be for very very deep scratches.

thanks guys!!!

Da Moose, are all those grades for wet sandpaper or is the more aggressive grit normal dry sandpaper?

Thanks!

The 220 and 320 would be used as dry sandpaper i believe, I have wet sanded some touch up jobs on the truck with 400 but then again touch up paint is totally different than gel coat

you are going to need to get some 30 grit and go at it with that.

I have never buffed on gel coat before, can you use automotive compounds like meguiars. I have done a little bit of painting and I allways wetsanded the clear and buffed with 1st med. cut 2nd fine cut 3rd swirle remover and then imperier hand glaze then wax. I have a few markes in my gelcoat that I would like to buff out and clean up the whole boat really good before I wax it this spring.

I had some small scratches and discoloration on my green gelcoat so I figured I’d try to work on it myself. Here’s what I did:

1. Wet Sand with 2000 Grit

Using a Dewalt Variable Speed Buffer:

2. 1800 RPM - Wool Cutting Pad, Heavy Duty Compound, spread material at low speed and then buffed clean at 1800 RPM. Did this step 2 times.

3. 1600 RPM – Foam Polishing Pad, finishing polish (contained no wax), spread material at low speed and then buffed clean at 1600 RPM. Did this step 2 times.

4.1600 RPM – Foam Polishing Pad, high quality wax/sealant, spread material at low speed and then buffed clean at 1600 RPM. Did this step 1 time.

The finish came out beautiful, no scratches or swirl marks at all. But, I think I needed to use a more aggressive sandpaper to get some of the deeper scratches out, cause they are still there (although they don’t look as bad). I was afraid to use something too aggressive, but it sounds like I could have gone a lot lower than 2000.

How thick is a boat gel coat? I have a few scratches down low on my boat that a fairly deep from the previous owner who must not have known how to load a boat. thanks