: You definitely need to be careful, as worst possible outcome would
: be to sand through the gelcoat to the point that the laminate
: shows through. Although British boats traditionally had thick
: gelcoat, since companies like P&H and Valley have adopted modern
: manufacturing methods, that's no longer true. On older boats
: with serious damage, I've started as fine as 320 grit and
: progressed up through 1500. You can see an aggressive
: restoration of the deck of an Anas Acuta in my "Gelcoat
: Repair & Restoration" album at:
: http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom-reg

Thanks Brian. You did a nice job on that one. The boat in question is only a couple of years old, and has nothing like that amount of surface defect. It has a few paddle and gear scratches, so I'll be spot-sanding those and then buffing the whole thing. It's her first real kayak and it's pretty close to being perfect, so I don't blame her for wanting to it put back to perfect. I might do the same were I in her situation.

m