how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

[donkee]

I recently bought a 1987 skeeter bass boat and it is in beautiful condition... except for the fact that the fiberglass has lost its shine. it still has some shine but it seems like it has lost its top shiny gel coat so it is alittle rough when you rub your hand over it.
So i am looking for a cheap fix that will restore the shine alittle but i don't want to spend a lot of money but i want it to shine when i am out on the lake on a sunny day. Any help will be apreciated

Thanks

 

[JoLin]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

The fact that your gelcoat feels "rough" means that it's pitted. It won't shine unless you make the surface smooth, then apply wax. Waxing alone might give you some sheen and keep the oxidation from getting worse, but it won't make it shiny. Fixing the problem is cheap but labor intensive.

Sanding and/or compounding are the only ways I know of to do that. No quick fix.

Good luck!

 

[Susquehanna Squid]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

I found some compounds etc. from 3M that worked great on my oxidation problem. You may want to get a buffer (I did) because like JoLin said, it is labor intensive and you will probably be sore after it.

 

[Summer Fun]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

Yep, A lot of buffing with a mild compound and then wax it. .

 

[xjcj3a]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

PENTROL works to re-liquefy the surface below. just make sure the surface is really clean.

 

[donkee]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

if i use that coumpond your talking about will it cover up the sparkle of my boat or is it see through? is it supposed to be used for plain one color fiberglass, like the underside of the boat or can it be used on the cool design part like the sparkly designs.

 

[jmfrost]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

From personal experience...I wouldn't buy one of those $20 buffers from Wal-Mart. I tried that on our last boat and never could get the oxidation off. I have the porter cable 7545xp now and it works like a champ! I had the best luck with the 3M cleaner compounds. Once you get the oxidation off, apply some polish, then wax on top of that. Even with a power tool, you'll get a little tired. I had to break it up into sections over a couple days, but the job was much easier for me and she looks REAL purrrtttyyy.

 

[Wheelhouse]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

Wash it down with a strong soap solution and rub it down with vasoline, that should make her shine and it wont hurt anything.

 

[JimS123]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

Wash it down with a strong soap solution and rub it down with vasoline, that should make her shine and it wont hurt anything.

How many days will that last?

 

[CATransplant]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

if i use that coumpond your talking about will it cover up the sparkle of my boat or is it see through? is it supposed to be used for plain one color fiberglass, like the underside of the boat or can it be used on the cool design part like the sparkly designs.

Ah, you have a glitter boat. That's a different issue altogether. What is probably happening is that the clear coat over the glitter coat is breaking down. It's a common problem, and one that no amount of compounding will solve. The glitter is what's causing the rough feeling.

To get it back to something like the original finish is going to require a trip to a professional paint shop that has experience in restoring such finishes, and it may cost more than your boat is worth to get it looking new again.

The other option is to remove all the glitter surface and paint with a plain color or even a metalflake color.

Bottom line is that glitter boats get all unglamorous after a few years, and are very expensive to restore to original appearance.

 

[NYBo]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

Yep, the metalflake needs a new clearcoat. Really no other way to do it.

 

[26aftcab454]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

How many days will that last?

all summer
i did my 1984 wellcraft- look at the shine in my avatar!

 

[shortyg]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

I have first hand experience with this situation. I am a paint and bodyman by trade so I won,t jerk you around on this issue.If you plan to refinish..DO NOT.. put vasoline or any other type of hard petroleum product on the area to be painted because the metalflake is porous at this stage and will absorb anything applied to it. A good acrylic urethane clearcoat needs to be sprayed after a thorough cleaning and sanding. Apply 5 good coats, water sand with 1000grit, allow to air dry,then buff with a clearcoat compound. Then finish up with a finesse polish using a foam buffing pad to remove swirl marks.Hand polish to a beautiful shine .Yep! thats a lot of work ,but the end result will give you a showroom finish you can brag on.I have done 6 boats,2 of my own using this method,it works...

 

[borakid]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

I've had great, great luck with the 3M products. I use the Super Duty Compound, followed by the Finese-It glaze and then 2 coats of their marine paste wax. It's a lot of work, but it comes out really good.

 

[wca_tim]

Re: how do i make my fiberglasss boat shine again?

depending on how bad it is and how thick the clear is, you can wetsand the oxidation off and then work back up to 1500 grit before buffing out and finishing with finesse it 2. it'll look great but will not last forever. I did that and then buffed and waxed for a year or so before degreasing the you know what out of everything, wetsanding to rough it up, repairing bad spots using gelcoat and flake, some color and an airbrush in some spots, etc... and then final roughing it up by wetsanding lightly with 400.

more degreasing, washing, etc... shot two wet coats of ppg 2021, let it cure for a couple of days, lightly wetsanded with 1000, cleaned it all up again, shot two more wet coats 2021, wetsanded (using a black and carefully) with 1000, 1500, and then 2000 grit paper, buffed it our using meguires diamond cut 85 (absolutely amazing stuff, haven't tried it on gelcoat yet, but it cuts a lot faster than finess it and gets to almost the same place in shine), then finished up with swirl removed on a da buffer...

it literally glows in the sunlight and up close the paint looks like smooth, wet glass.

I'm NOT a professional painter - much more a backyard hack and did this in my yard and garage.

that's one way to make it every bit as shint as it was the day it was new...