1997 sea doo re-finish. Please help

[trabich]

I just bought a 1997 sea doo. It had been sitting outside for a few years. I have completely redone the seats and I need to get it's clear coat to shine again. I have used some of Wal-marts marine wax and polish. Looks good for about 10 minutes then is gets foggy looking. What can I do? Is there a really good marine wax or polish out there can can help me keep my shine? Or, do I need top re-do the clear coat? I have painted many of cars so I do have a Devilbis gravity fed spray gun. What type of clear can I use to restore it?

 

[ski-d00]

there is no clear coat on it, boats are actually sprayed into a mold where the finish coat of gel coat is the first coat sprayed into the mold and it is very thick in comparison to paint. gel coat does fade with uv from the sun and sometimes fades quite deep into the gel coat.

you can sand the faded portions of the gel coat and then continue sanding to finer grits and then polish with 3000, it will look like new but it is very time consuming.

 

[jswope]

I have a '97 GTX. When we bought it, the finish wasn't in real bad shape but it didn't have any shine to it either. I used 3M Marine Fiberglas Restorer and Wax (#09005) on it. It has a light rubbing compound in it, an oxidation remover, wax and a UV retardant. I use it twice a season, once in the spring and again about half way thru season. The first time I applied it, it took awhile cause there was alot of crap being rubbed off. After that it went on and off pretty easily. The other thing I do is wipe the ski down after each ride as soon as it comes out of the water. I bought a good quality chamis and keep it right in the ski. As soon as we pull it out we drive back to the packing lot and dry it off before the water spots have a chance to dry and leave the mineral residue on the surface. Are we overly fussy? Yea! But we've been asked more than once if it's a new boat, and have been told often it looks great.
I've seen the 3M product at West Marine and WalMart, so it's easy to find and it's not real expensive.