TOPIC: Fiberglass Cleaning or Painting

Hello--

New owner of a 1957 MFG Erie. Its in great shape but I would like to get the hull clean. Tried several products with some success, but would like restore it as best as possible. Paint certainly does not seem to be the answer as the old MFG's were not polished fiberglass.

I've attached a pic (not of a dirty area)--thoughts and ideas are appreciated. Enjoying the forum.
Thanks

if that is the exterior of the hull, i don't know what to tell ya, but their are people here that will know.... ron

If that's the outside hull then gelcoat never got put on it or it was ground down by a previous owner and then painted and the paint has come off.

If that's the inside then it's going to take some good soap and water with a lot of brushing. Some Dawn dish soap and water, try to spray some on with a spray bottle and let it sit for a few minutes then scrub it off with a brush and see how that works. If hat doesn't work then you'll need something stronger like simple green or the orange stuff. Attwood does make a hull cleaner that you wear gloves with that I use to wipe down the inside of my boat but it's been painted so it comes off nicely. Just my 2 cents.

Bob

that is indeed the exterior and shows no sign of ever being painted

Is that what would be known as crazing?

No to me that's what looks like a boat that didn't have gelcoat in the mold before the glass was laid in it. Others who are much more smarter on fiberglass can jump in. Either that or someone ground off all the gelcoat then sanded nice and left it without recoating it.

Bob

looks like all the hard work is done here, sand her smooth to your liking and gelcoat her, you'll need a special gelcoat spray gun... not to expensive to get a cheap one.... but I'd for sure go with gelcoat, flip it over and tape off the deck and do the hull first, then once dried a week later, flip her back over mask off the hull and spray the deck..