Polishing fibreglass areas.

[AlyJay]

Have any of you seasoned motorhomers got experiance with what polish to use for the FIBREGLASS areas on moho - i.e , rear panel, roof, corners etc.
The painted aluminium areas i.e both sides of hab area and the steel cab are polished to perfection but the fibreglass areas just seem to stain when I try to use same polish, which I guess is meant for painted areas.
Any tips would be appreciated in getting the factory finish back to the fibreglass.
Thanks Alistair .

 

[number14]

In our sailing days we used oxalic acid to clean the hull as did most others in the yacht club. Available as a ready made solution on fleabay and chandlers, but much cheaper to buy the powder and make your own solution if you can find a store that specialises in wood treatments. Eg we used Fiddes in Cardiff; they sell online.

Edit: after cleaning the surface may still look dull, in which case try a small area first with rubbing compound or a very fine wet & dry. Regret, there's no substitute for elbow grease.

 

[nabsim]

Is it just the gel coat or has it been painted over?

 

[AlyJay]

Is it just the gel coat or has it been painted over?

Its gel coat I think, it's gone flat with years of just being washed and not polished.
The surface has like oxidised and discolours when I try normal polish.

 

[Wully]

This stuff should do the job.

Meguiars Cleaner Wax

Meguiars Cleaner Wax cleans, polishes, protects and restores lightly oxidized gel coat.

www.allscotltd.co.uk

 

[Scotia]

This stuff should do the job.

Meguiars Cleaner Wax

Meguiars Cleaner Wax cleans, polishes, protects and restores lightly oxidized gel coat.

www.allscotltd.co.uk

Have you tried the Maguires on Decals Wully?

 

[Wully]

Nothing dose the decals Sam.I’ve tried everything it looks like it’s sun damage and the bits below windows and stuff where the water runs of are damaged. Looking back I think a polish or a wax makes them worse as it attracts the heat from sun and reacts.

 

[trevskoda]

Use a cutting agent g3 commpound and not a polish.

 

[AlyJay]

Use a cutting agent g3 commpound and not a polish.View attachment 75808

I have got this but I milder cut - was hoping there was some kind of specific polish that would cut and polish in a oner as theres a LOT of fibreglass to do and its very dull.

 

[AlyJay]

This stuff should do the job.

Meguiars Cleaner Wax

Meguiars Cleaner Wax cleans, polishes, protects and restores lightly oxidized gel coat.

www.allscotltd.co.uk

I've bought something similar online yesterday so will see how it goes, I may have to cut it 1st as Trevskoda suggests if that doesn't work.......

 

[AlyJay]

Nothing dose the decals Sam.I’ve tried everything it looks like it’s sun damage and the bits below windows and stuff where the water runs of are damaged. Looking back I think a polish or a wax makes them worse as it attracts the heat from sun and reacts.

It's strange on mine, the decals condition are actually ok, despite them looking a little outdated, I might remove them not sure yet will see how it looks when all cleaned up.

 

[byron]

Use a cutting agent g3 commpound and not a polish.View attachment 75808

I Use that on my autosleepers monoque body.then Polish and finally simonize wax.hard work but comes up lovely.

 

[Crazy Brit]

It's strange on mine, the decals condition are actually ok, despite them looking a little outdated, I might remove them not sure yet will see how it looks when all cleaned up.

As was mentioned above, there is no getting away from the elbow grease.... In fact it's not per se the product but how it's applied. I have cut, polished and waxed the hull of our boat every year and at 36 yrs old the hull looks like new. For the last few years we have used the 3M range of products for fibre glass. Applied with a lambswool pad and a rotary polisher, not a random orbit. It's needs to be worked until you can see colours clearly in the reflection. Then a quick blast with a fine cutting polish and then wax, this will then protect the fibre glass from the sun and be easier to keep clean.

The m/h just needs a light cut polish and wax.

I'm afraid that doing it by hand just isn't going to cut it if the surface is badly oxidised.

 

[AlyJay]

As was mentioned above, there is no getting away from the elbow grease.... In fact it's not per se the product but how it's applied. I have cut, polished and waxed the hull of our boat every year and at 36 yrs old the hull looks like new. For the last few years we have used the 3M range of products for fibre glass. Applied with a lambswool pad and a rotary polisher, not a random orbit. It's needs to be worked until you can see colours clearly in the reflection. Then a quick blast with a fine cutting polish and then wax, this will then protect the fibre glass from the sun and be easier to keep clean.

The m/h just needs a light cut polish and wax.

I'm afraid that doing it by hand just isn't going to cut it if the surface is badly oxidised.

The elbow grease doesn't bother me, it's more the time it's going to take.
I will just have to cut & polish small sections at a time me thinks...
I've just got no experience with fibreglass, but thankyou to everyone with the input, now I know there is no quick remedy.
I will dig out my machine polisher and buy some new pads for it.
Thanks Alistair.

 

[nabsim]

I can't remember what I used to use on my sidecar bodies. I seem to think I used turtle wax as a polish and if I ever needed to tidy it up I would use something like T-Cut first. I know I wouldn't have used and fancy expensive treatments but there were not as many options back in the 70's and 80's. After that I didn't really care about polishing them, would just wash and chamois down