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If your gelcoat is heavily oxidized you might need to start out with rubbing compound and then follow up with successively finer grades of polish. The first coat will soak in because if your boat is chalky the gelcoat is dry and porous and will absorb more.
Remove the oxidation and restore the shine.
How to restore faded gelcoat on boat. With Marine Polytrol drying times are short usually less than 10 minutes so section off your work in small achievable areas. Soak a soft clean cloth in Marine Polytrol and wipe onto the gelcoat remembering to wipe off the excess liquid as quickly as possible. The best wax to use for restoring your gelcoat is marine wax.
Its specifically designed for use on boats and its waterproof. You can also use car wax as long as its hard shell wax. Use a cloth if.
How do you fix gelcoat faded on a boat. Remove all surface dirt. To remove the surface dirt wash your hull and topsides with marine boat soap diluted in water.
Remove the oxidation and restore the shine. Poli Glow is a simple product that will bring back a mirror like shine to yo. Before selecting a polish it is important to understand that polishes and their more aggressive cousins rubbing compounds use abrasives to smooth the pitted surface of porous gelcoat and restore the shine.
If your gelcoat is heavily oxidized you might need to start out with rubbing compound and then follow up with successively finer grades of polish. On Quantum Leap my first attempt to restore the Gelcoat was just that to compound and polish. I had some good quality buffing equipment from the days when I was building acrylic eg.
Corian countertops yes Acrylic countertops are polished with compound and glaze exactly the same way you polish a boat RV or car. A dull oxidized surface may restore to a deep luster with polishing but still leave an uneven color due to fading. This is more prevalent in dark colors but can be seen even in off-whites.
If the color has faded no amount of polishing will restore a uniform appearance. With Gelcoat Restorer drying times are short usually less than 10 minutes so section off your work in small achievable areas. Soak a soft clean cloth in Gelcoat Restorer and wipe onto the gelcoat.
Remember to wipe off the excess liquid as quickly as possible. Failure to do so may result in a patchy and uneven appearance. I had a very small area that was similar to your problem.
He told me he could sand it buff it shine it and I would leave happy. He said after a few trips on the water the fading will return. He said after time the actual color starts to fade away and no amount of buffing and sanding will restore the luster.
He is also well versed in Magics. If the gelcoat starts to look transparent stop. After the surface has been compounded polish it then coat it with wax and buff it.
Providing the gelcoat has an adequate thickness your boat might have been compounded previously this process will restore the shine to fiberglass in almost any condition. If your boat is already faded badly it may still be restorable there are several things that can be done to restore a boats surface. Sometimes we have seen boats faded so badly having been exposed to the elements for so long that the sun has damaged the gel coat several or.
Premium Boat Shine will cover about 400 sq. And you need 2 coats. The first coat will soak in because if your boat is chalky the gelcoat is dry and porous and will absorb more.
The coverage on the 2nd coat will be greater. To restore the finish first wash the boat with Boat Clean Plus at. 400 and an afternoon of labour you can not only restore your faded fiberglass gelcoat boat or faded RVs siding.
But protect it against the elements for years to come. And just think you wont ever have to do compounding waxing or polishing of your fiberglass gelcoat again. Once your restoration process of sanding and buffing is done apply a good cleaner glaze followed by a coat of carnauba wax or other product that inhibit the UV rays from doing their damage.
Repeat the UV protectant frequently according to directions. When not being used keep the boat under cover. A garage is best but a canopy is also good.
3M Perfect-It Gelcoat Medium Cutting Compound. The Perfect-It Gelcoat Medium Compound by 3M is a single-step gel coat restorer for boats that backs its claims. It is effective in removing oxidation on gel coat surfaces and can give a good quality finish.
Best thing to do is apply whats called a barrier coat its an epoxy coating that you roll on. There are circumstances where you can restore the gelcoat to its former glory by using a product such as Marine Polytrol. How To Paint Your Old Fiberglass Boat And Make It Look New Again Boat Restoration Boat Building Plans Plywood Boat Plans.