Yep - another polisher question !! (Or is it ?!)

[SimonTheSailor]

I know the question of 'What rotary polisher do I need ?' question has been asked numerous times no doubt.

Slightly different but to save my back/arms I am thinking about a rechargeable polisher - for my narrowboat.

I believe boats normally get painted without a laquer (quite often still by hand) so after a few years the paint oxidises becoming dull.

I've normally T-Cut the boat spring and autumn but it's f*ckin hard work due to its size !!

So I was thinking of a rechargeable polisher to do the bulk of the work.

What do I need ? Something with a longer battery life first I guess ?! I need something to do the bulk of the work, I don't mind finishing with polish/waxing manually but the harder initial cut I would prefer to do with a machine !

Any recommendations ?

[Belle427]

Depends on run time needed as they do eat the batteries, you would probably need a couple of decent 4ah/5ah batteries to run it which gets expensive.
May be worth looking at Ryobi tools as you can add to the range if you need to.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ryobi-R18P-0-Cordless-Pol...

[finlo]

Can you not just wait for it to recharge instead of doing it in one hit?

[somouk]

Battery polishers are becoming more common but are expensive compared to mains ones.

Not all boats are laquered as well, some have gel coat on them so it is worth understanding what you are polishing as well before buying pad and polish combos.

[SimonTheSailor]

finlo said:

Can you not just wait for it to recharge instead of doing it in one hit?

Yes, doesn't have to be done in one hit.

[SimonTheSailor]

somouk said:

Battery polishers are becoming more common but are expensive compared to mains ones.

Not all boats are laquered as well, some have gel coat on them so it is worth understanding what you are polishing as well before buying pad and polish combos.

Indeed, this is a steel narrowboat so no gel coat finish.

[rodericb]

I've got a big bd of a polisher which just spins, is a mongrel to hang on to and will burn paint very quickly which might be suited to what you're after but it's corded. Which makes me think that if you're burly enough to wrangle it then maybe a cordless angle grinder might work for you? You'd need to get one with variable speed and which goes slow enough. Or alternately a cordless drill. I imagine that the work you've got ahead of you is different enough to a car that you might get away with something other than an actual polisher, let alone a cordless one ($$$$!!!!)

Or you could go pneumatic if you've got an air compressor and a power supply nearby.

Edited by rodericb on Saturday 15th July 08:51

[robwilk]

I have a dewalt 18v random orbital polisher works fine on cars. I got it bare tool as I have lots of batteries. They also do a rotary polisher but I’ve not looked into that one. Rob