I have a 1993 Mako and the gellcoat turns a dull white by spring. Every year I use a rubbing compound followed by wax and finally a finishing wax. Every year it turns out a nice bright white but this year I wanted to see if I could bring back some of that nice off white yellow color it had when it was new. I was wondering if there were any waxes out there that can give it that new look. Is my only hope to just keep it the shiny white? Is there a yellow wax that can restore that color?

BTW, took it for the first spin yesterday with the new honda motor to start the break-in. I can't believe the difference from the old 2-stroke. its like a new boat!

Last year I was working on my boat in the yard - next to me was another boat that this guy brought from a chalky dull white to an incredible shine. I asked him how he did it. Here's what he told me.
1) DONT use compound
2) POLISH the gel coat with maguires polish. Use a machine polisher and go over it as many times as you need to to get the shine. As he told me the polish returns oils to the gel coat. It's the only way to get it back up to a shine.
3) after you get the shine back - then wax it - just to protect the finish.

This year I followed his advice on my 20yr old sailboat and I was really blown away by the results. It works.

Last year I was working on my boat in the yard - next to me was another boat that this guy brought from a chalky dull white to an incredible shine. I asked him how he did it. Here's what he told me.
1) DONT use compound
2) POLISH the gel coat with maguires polish. Use a machine polisher and go over it as many times as you need to to get the shine. As he told me the polish returns oils to the gel coat. It's the only way to get it back up to a shine.
3) after you get the shine back - then wax it - just to protect the finish.

This year I followed his advice on my 20yr old sailboat and I was really blown away by the results. It works.

Polish is compound! Two different names for the same stuff. When using compound or polish you need to keep working your way down to the finer and finer stuff. If you start off with the fine stuff it will still work, but you'll just have to do it more to get to the same level of shine. Wax just protects the finished product, to get it to shine you have to use some sort of polish or compound. The one step waxes just include the polish in the wax.

meguires or however the hell you spell it is compound.
same stuff different name.

like mikes said you gotta power polish/compound until you get the sheen you want. then wax over it.

Getting the shine is not my problem. As you can see, I use compound followed by wax, followed by a finishing wax which is super fine. What I want to know is if there is any way to bring back that origional YELLOW shine that a new boat has. When I removed my compass I saw the night and day contrast from where the compass had protected the gel-coat under it and I wanted that new boat look back.

I use a 3m product call Perfect-it III, my hull is a 1985 Aquasport and with a mechanical buffer I start every season with the Gel-coat looking like it just came out of the show room. You can get it at any auto body supply store that stock 3m products, for about $30.00 a quart. For reference my boat is 27' with a 10' beam and I don't use the whole quart.

The difference between proper polish and proper compound is grit. the compound it more coarse then the polish. I use 3m imperial machine glaze then polish with 06044 3m combo finish. Seems to work great on any paint or gelcoat I have come accross

I use a 3m product call Perfect-it III, my hull is a 1985 Aquasport and with a mechanical buffer I start every season with the Gel-coat looking like it just came out of the show room. You can get it at any auto body supply store that stock 3m products, for about $30.00 a quart. For reference my boat is 27' with a 10' beam and I don't use the whole quart.

Yep I have used the perfect-it and finness-it products as well and it works great, do you use the 3m foam pad like they recomend? I use the wool and it seems to work good

Sounds good. My problem is that the marina that we used for about 5years for "full service" did an awful job and i think that let the color fade. I could make a 5 page list of shortcuts that this place did on my boat. The person that installed my new motor couldn't believe some of the stuff that he saw with how they installed the old one. Anyway back to the point. The inside is sun bleached, it will shine but only a bright white, no yellow..

If I understand your off white has faded out to a brighter white, and you want to get back to the off white? Is that correct? And you can buff it to a shine, but it is not the color you are looking for? If this is the case I think the only way to get to the color you want is to paint it.

Exactly... thats what I figured but I was looking for a miracle :)

I didn't notice you were trying to bring back a color, if it is oxidized you can sometimes DA it off with some 400, try wet sanding a small spot. I have done this before with measured success, but like zac said it is most likley in need od a fresh coat of paint.

ScottC
I do use the wool pad and slake it every now and then, it works awsome!

Slake?

Slake: from the latin removecrapfrompad,
using a paint stick to clean the pad while running the buffer at a slow speed. I think I heard it somewhere... or I made it up ? Sounded good at the time.

You can polish the hell out of it and it might be good enough. But if you want a new finish....awlgrip it. It will be new then.

I have tried a lot of products, but the best I've found is a product called "FLITZ". Put it on with a buffer and rub off with a towel. It really does a fine job. Flitz can be found at Boaters World and Westmarine.