re: Wet sanding an older boat

I did a 22 footer a few years back, it's not that hard, just time consuming.

Remove anything you can that is bolted on, cleats, grab bar, etc. Consider new sticker replacement, but do not remove the old until you have the replacement. The old stickers will have a "shadow" behind them that is really hard remove. Remove old stickers with heat gun, plastic spatula, and some goo gone.

I avoided the orbital sander and went with hand sanding. I hit with 1000 first, but was not aggressive, then hit with 2000 for a longer period.

Sanding was the easy part, compounding took the most work. I got all my supplies from a local PPG store the auto body shops use. Used 3M compounding liquid and pads and well as polishing liquid and pads. Compounding and polishing have separate pads.
Obviously you need a good variable speed polisher, but be careful staying in one spot too long on high RPM's, you will make a burn spot in the gelcoat.

It's a 5 step process so keep beer handy.

1 - 1000 grit sand
2 - 2000 grit sand
3 - compounding
4 - polishing
5 - wax (twice)