The way we do it here is to use 3M Rubbing Compound (#05954) (liquid) with a soft-wet buffing wheel, followed by 3M finesse-it II (#05928), also with a med RPM wheel. Keep the wheel wet and keep moving. In an extreme situation, you may have to use a #600 and or #800 wet/dry paper (use it wet). This works on gelcoat, acrylic lacquer and Imron top coats.

Ross MacLennan wrote:
I'd like to thank the folks who gave me the advise on how to handle scratches on gelcoat.On thinking about the advise, I realized that I had really described the problem wrongly.My boat has been repainted 3 years ago so the scratches are really on the new paint.The original gelcoat was red the new paint is a navy blue. Given that that scratched areas are in the new paint and not in the original gelcoat,does your advise to use a gentle rubbing compound still hold or do I run the risk of further scratching  the paint???
ROSS C&C 24