Thanks for the help.....I think

I have my Sunfish propped upon sawhorses down at a shop I share with my brother. He restores furniture. The bottom has that tannic tea stained appearance with some remnants of leaf "veins" plastered here and there. I was going to head down to do the Alan Glos wash/bleach/polish routine back on the 19th of March as it was in the upper 60's here in CNY but never got to it.

I popped in yesterday to see my brother and the hull was clean! I asked what he had done and said he used a 320 grit on an orbital sander. There was still dust on the hull, it did not have any shine to it....not that there was any when I bought it...but it felt nice and smooth. Looked 100% better as well. Too cold to take outside...15 degrees with 8" of snow yesterday...to rinse off.

Just wondering if 320 was too agressive. He is much more talented than I with "fine" surfaces so I'm sure he didn't lean into it. It looks really nice even without any "glos" (sorry Alan), evident on the hull ....but I'll have a better look when the weather breaks.

Could he have damaged/removed gel coat? If so, what next?
 
320 is pretty harsh. Certainly it removed some gelcoat. Next steps should be to wet sand with 600, 800 and potentially all the way to 2000. You should get a pretty decent finish.
 
In the future, give those Magic Eraser sponges a try on stains on the gel coat.
It wasn't just stains, the entire bottom had a tea stain to it. Several of the smaller lakes in our area, including were this boat resided prior, have a brown tint.

I've used them for other applications...they're great!
 
Beldar is correct. 320 gfrit was a little harsh, but the finer grits of Wet & Dry sandpaper used wet in soapy water will yield good results.

There is another over the counter product called FSR (fiberglass stain remover) that works great on the tea colored stains you reported. FSR is an acid based product - use gloves and eye protection and rinse with plenty of water per the directions.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 

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