Cleaning fibreglass gelcoat...

[stevegardner]

I have a late 70's boat that's pretty faded as far as white gelcoat goes. I've tried a few waxes etc. to bring a bit of shine to it. Every spring it has a lot of black stains and takes a lot of scrubbing to remove. No matter how hard I scrub, it never seems to get really clean. About the best thing I've tried is inflatable boat cleaner. Does anyone know if this stuff will damage the gelcoat? Thanks in advance.

 

[rentprop1]

Re: Cleaning fibreglass gelcoat...

I'll probably get it for saying this, but being its close to 30 years old there are probably already a bunch of small scratches...right ?

I used liquid soft scrub and one of those kitchen green scrubby things, came back almost pure white, then followed up with a coat of that Nu Finish car polish and it still looks good 2 seasons later

ok flame on.....

 

[nrf414]

Re: Cleaning fibreglass gelcoat...

This weekend I stopped by Wal-mart and picked up the Attwood Fiberglass Restore Polish for my oxidized hull, along with a Black & Decker polishing pad. It did a fantastic job for what I was able to complete. It shines so well!


I attached the image below: The starboard side bow back has not had any polish, the portside has recieved a polishing. I feel the shine was phenomenal for my application. I got a great deal on this boat.

 

[stevegardner]

Re: Cleaning fibreglass gelcoat...

Thanks for the tips and you're right there is lots of scratches; I'll try the restore polish AND the inflatable cleaner. One thing I did find if you can get it clean as a starting point, PENETROL works good instead of wax but its pretty expensive.