Now that you guys started putting numbers out there, I do believe I remember ending up with like 1500 grit or something on my finishing coat. Maybe it was 750 or 500 that I started with.

I started out conservative by using a lighter grit sandpaper on my first coat but I wasn't getting the results I wanted. The shine wasn't deep enough. I went down on the grit SLOWLY as to make sure I wasn't taking too much of the gel coat off. Good grief it worked like a charm though.

I just keep a good wax on it now and she still looks awesome. Oh, and don't worry about burning a gel coat with that buffer. It's pretty much next to impossible to burn up a gel coat unless you are really trying to do it. You can burn the clear coat off a car EASILY but a gel coat on a boat is a heck of alot thicker than the clear coat on a car. This project seems complicated but it really isn't. Hey, if I can do it, any hack out there can do it!