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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Hatch Scratch

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River Harley
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132 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/02/2003 : 01:52:37

My latest problem involves a swath of scratches on the exterior of the acrylic topside cabin slider. Failing to detect any contact with the pop-top hatch when sliding the acrylic section forward, I concluded that some foreign object must have become positioned between the the two at some point in time when the hatch was pushed forward. My view of the stars has now been slightly obscured. The owners manual indicates that scratches on the acrylic panel can be removed using a very fine wet sandpaper. GAD ZOOKS!! Dare I use SANDPAPER to correct this problem? Does anyone know if this entry in the owners manual can be trusted? It just seems counter-intuitive to me to use sandpaper on acrylic - wet or no. If anyone has any advice in this matter, please let me know before I take the sandpaper plunge.

River Harley

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coldducks
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USA
342 Posts

Response Posted - 06/02/2003 : 06:21:29

we recently noticed the same problem on our slider. we could not see any place where the slider made contace either. on our last stop at boatus i saw a a couple products that claim to remove these scratches from plastic windows. i have not tried it yet, i would be afraid of the sandpaper too. one is called plastic scratch remover and the other is called plastic polish/restorer.

COLDDUCKS
FANTASY #409 C250WK

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cathluk
Admiral

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513 Posts

Response Posted - 06/02/2003 : 08:04:36

We have the same problem & Dan intends to use the power buffer & plastic polish (if we ever get a weekend when its not raining AND we don't have to work). I'll let you know how it works out. We did have good luck getting small scratches out of the sloped front windows using the plastic polish & lots of rubbing.

Cathy
"Blown Away"
'97 C250WK #253

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zig zag
Deckhand

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16 Posts

Response Posted - 06/02/2003 : 20:50:18

There's a product called Mirco-mesh. It uses series of cloth-backed abrasives (fancy way of saying sandpaper) and polishing compound. It can't fix deep scraches but it will repair fine scraches. They have several kits available the KR-70 should do about 30 sq/ft. Try www.sportys.com or call them at 1 800 225 3006
Keith

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Dave B
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Mali
863 Posts

Response Posted - 06/02/2003 : 21:16:28

Cathy: Tell Dan to run that buffer at the lowest possible speed, and not to buff to long in any spot. If he overheats the material, things get messy.

I don't know about sandpaper, but very mild abrasives can work well on plastics. I've even had success with toothpaste on some materials.

Dave Bristle, 1985 C-25 #5032 "Passage" SR/FK/Dinette/Honda in SW CT

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bear
Admiral

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909 Posts

Response Posted - 06/03/2003 : 08:04:04

From my days [long ago] as an aircraft mechanic, we used to polish out
scratches on plastic windshields on small aircraft.There were kits that offered various grades of abrasive paper and you just started working with the least abrasive paper available and water, very labor intensive. I would think a buffer might overheat the plastic and maybe put more scratches in the plexiglass. Also if available get a piece of plexiglass and experiment with it. Sometimes the area we repaired looked better than the original windshield, you will get the knack of how to do this real quick.
"Bear" on Brandy [maybe sailing today for the first time this year]

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cathluk
Admiral

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USA
513 Posts

Response Posted - 06/03/2003 : 11:04:00

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
Cathy: Tell Dan to run that buffer at the lowest possible speed, and not to buff to long in any spot. If he overheats the material, things get messy.

I don't know about sandpaper, but very mild abrasives can work well on plastics. I've even had success with toothpaste on some materials.

Dave Bristle, 1985 C-25 #5032 "Passage" SR/FK/Dinette/Honda in SW CT
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

I'll pass on the warning. I'd be happy to live w/ the scratches. Its a random orbital buffer so that should help. It did a great job on cleaning & polishing the gelcoat this spring.

Cathy
"Blown Away"
'97 C250WK #253

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.