New Cobalt Owner - Rolling up on 28s!

[CobaltMinerAtl]

Hey there all you Cobalt enthusiasts! I'm new the forum and I look forward to exchanging information and learning more from you all. I have a 2005 Cobalt 282 with the 496 Mag HO powerplant, she has too many options to list. I recently traded my 1983 SeaRay 340 for this new lady. I'm very excited about starting the season and getting to know my new boat. My wife and I are located in GA on Allatoona Lake in on the northwest side of Atlanta. I have been boating for 3 years but I still consider myself a "Rookie" with much to learn.

Thank you for approving my application to join this group.

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[AsLan7]

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So glad you found us CMA.
Thanks for the pics too.
The 282 is an amazing machine. Great pics. Thanks for posting.

And welcome aboard mate!

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[kas232ca]

Very nice! Welcome.

That oxidized blue gel coat will come back to life with a little bit of work.

[CobaltMinerAtl]

Thank you guys! looking forward to contributing to the community. I bought a buffing machine and watched YOUTUBE UNIVERSITY to better understand the process. I did a test spot and it come our looking great. Any tips to buffing would be greatly appreciated.

[milkerson10]

I would love to work on that boat, detailing is my thing, been working on my A28 over the years and finally have it up to my standards

My protocol:

Rotary polisher compounding with stark level R compound with a wool pad, then final finishing polish with menzerna 400 on orange Lake Country foam pad with DA polisher

Take your time with the rotary polisher, gelcoat should look pretty good, but have a lot of halos from the rotary polisher on a wool pad. Take away all the Halo affect. It would be best to have a forced rotation, dual action polisher, but those are much more expensive, you can get desired results with any dual action polisher, it just may take a little bit more time.

Finish with a paint, prep to remove polishing oil’s, or rubbing alcohol dilution of 5 to 1

Then use your favorite wax, for boats, I prefer collonite wax

You can use a ceramic coating, but make sure it is more of a consumer and not professional grade. The more expensive, professional grade, ceramic coatings that offer up to 10 years of protection, seal the gelcoat way too much, and will likely start actually peeling with so much of the direct sunlight.