TOPIC: proper wax for old gelcoat

I have an old boat that I've polished with 3M Gelcoat compound. It's come back pretty nice. I know I need to wax it to keep it that way and somewhere, I think on this site, I read a piece written by someone very knowledgeable about the wax, along with polishing. I recall that Carnuba was not a good choice, but do not recall what was. I can't seem to locate whatever I read, and nobody locally has any good wax.

Can someone point me to some good info on what to use and anything else that may help me keep it shined up?

There are a couple of pretty good articles in the Research / Restoration section on this subject;

www.fiberglassics.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109:restoring-gel-coat&catid=55:restoration&Itemid=119

www.fiberglassics.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75:marine-fiberglass-hulls-inspection-and-care&catid=55:restoration&Itemid=119

You can also use the "Search Forum" box in the upper right hand corner of the screen to find all the posts that pertain to any subject.

Thanks. That was exactly what I was looking for. I knew it was in here somewhere, not sure why I didn't figure out it was there.

For what it's worth, I've followed the directions by Jamil Mehdi in the Research article #7, "Restoring Gel Coat" in restoring an old sailboat from the 80's that I've had for years. It worked great.

There are 5 steps, basically and I did it aw he suggested and used the products he recommends.

1. Sand with fine paper. (I used 1000 grit)
2. Polish with 3M gelcoat compound using a variable speed polisher.
3. Polish with 3M Finesse-it II using a variable speed polisher.
4. Seal with Starbrite Marine Polish with P-Tef.
5. Wax with 3M Marine Ultra Performance paste wax by hand

I thought the boat would have to have a new layer of gelcoat to look good again. I've done one side of the hull, the other is untouched, so I have a good before and after to look at. My wife was shocked - she told me tonight that it looks new. That is success. It doesn't look new to me, but not that far off.

Jamil suggested that it could do without the second coat of sealer, but I will say it made a big difference when I added the second coat. It's very little effort, just a matter of letting it sit for a day.

I also put on 2 coats of wax, and I could tell the difference when I put on the second coat.

I have an old 60's Sea King runabout that looks like total crap, covered in stains, moss like you'd see on rocks, and the parts that aren't covered with other stuff is really rough. But it's still got gelcoat on it that doesn't appear to be cracked. I'm tempted to try these methods on it.

I tried a spot on the old Sea King.

Now, this boat sat under some trees for about 15+ years and had stains and mold all over. I tried cleaning it with a pressure washer, then sanding the gelcoat. It still had black stains in the gelcoat.

I tried oxalic acid, bleach and muriatic acid, all with no change.

It polished up quite well, but since it's a cheap boat, it has pretty bad print through from the cloth and the black stains are still there embedded in the gelcoat.

Any thoughts of how to get stains from the gelcoat?

Some of the gang over on CGOA report that "The Works" toilet bowl cleaner (yes, believe it or not!) does an excellent job on stains.

Re: Hull stain cleaning
Wow! The Works toilet cleaner really works on yellow/brown freshwater stains. One of the larger bottles did ... I hit it with the hose to wash off and dilute the cleaner as I went along and my hull looks brand new. Practically no effort.

Might be worth a try?

Next time I go to town I'll get some, but those stains usually come right out with oxalic acid (which is the main ingredient of FSR, by the way). I'll give it a shot, although I'm doubtful it'll do anything. But then, I might get a good surprise.

I checked this thing out tonight, as my wife wants me to fix it up.

I told her there as bad news and good news. Bad news was, it's a really cheap boat with very thin construction and the transom is badly rotted.

The good news is, it's a really cheap boat and I can disassemble it (split the hull and deck, and remove EVERYTHING) with nothing more than a phillips screwdriver.

Austinsailor:

I inherited our family owned 1960 Glasspar G-3 from Dad after he passed away. The boat was very well taken care of and was garage kept its enitre life, although like you the gelcoat needed some buffing and polishing. We started with the "3M Restorer and Wax" and finished up with the similiar products mentioned in this thread.

Here is a photo of our "one family 1960 Glasspar G-3" after the "refurbish". The gelcoat is FIFTY-TWO (52) YEARS OLD on this boat! I am so glad my Dad took such good care of it.

That is one awesome job on the gelcoat. You should be proud of that boat.

Austinsailor wrote:

That is one awesome job on the gelcoat. You should be proud of that boat.

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Thanks Austin! Yes, we are very proud that the gelcoat on our old G-3 was able to come out that nice. My two friends that do finish work on old boats told me "they knew we could get the gelcoat looking great" with some buffing and polishing deserve most of the credit. Also, they told me the fact that my Dad kept the G-3 in a garage or covered its entire life made a huge difference too.