Hobie Cat Forums

Need advice on finishing the top decks. Should i just sand the track top off decks and replace a textured paint. The hulls have some serious oxidation so all the grooves would be white if i cant get in them. On another thread some mentioned soda blasting but i havent tried that yet. Is it stupid to remove the og texture from the gelcoat?

IMHO, yes. Sanding the non-skid off is the easy way out, but the boat never looks right afterward.

There is no way you're ever going to make the non-skid areas "shine", but you can make them much better with a stiff bristle brush, heavy duty rubbing compound and a lot of elbow grease.

I'd be really interested to see the results of soda blasting. That might very well be a viable alternative.

I tried buffing out my chalky blue decks this past spring but the oxidation was too deep and I couldn't get color uniformity with the non-slip. I ended up just doing my hulls, which turned out great. Unfortunately, the Zep Wet Look Floor Finish I used on my hulls didn't work on my decks (test area turned out splotchy due to a lack of uniformity in the color).

Have you considered Vasoline? Don't laugh, there are boaters who swear by it (read post #23 for chemical properties). I'm going to give it a try next spring....

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=333913

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Irie, mon....
'82 Hobie 18 SE with '85 Nationals Prism (White) sails
'73 Laser HID# 3463

I wet sanded everything on my hulls. I used 800, 1000, 1200 and finally 1500. I then buffed with two stages of rubbing compound. Lots of work but the tops came out awesome as did the rest of the boat. Really they are a mirror like finish.

There are two products I have used to get stains out (tops of the hulls) but you must use with caution as one contains oxalic acid. The two products are: Bon-ami cleaner and Bar Keepers Friend. The second containing the acid. I used a stiff brush and the tops came out bright white. I diluted the powder prior to applying. I then resealed with the appropriate wax/Teflon sealer.

I hand wax the hulls every spring and are still looking great.

I pilled out the soda blaster and tried t on an old hull. It didnt remove the texture which is good. It did seem to clean out everything well but its white and my hulls are blue so i am not sure how good it will do on those. Now that i know it will not remove the the texture i will tape off a section of the hull and see how it does