fibreglass restoration

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bobster

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hi i ned to restore some fibreglass to as near original as possible.. it used to be red but now it`s oxydised to a pink colour so oxydation is quite bad...
whats the best stuff to use and what sort of results have people had with the products >>>
also best place to buy from.. i`m in manchester but don`t mind some p&p adding to the total aslong as it`s the stuff i need..

cheers for looking and your advice...

regards
BOBSTER
 
When it is badly oxidised there is no substitute for hard work. 3m products work well, but you may need to do it a few times. You have to remove all traces of oxydisation and then treat with a good wax. There are some products that offer a quick fix, but I haven't found one yet that is up to restoring badly oxidised GRP.
 
nor me...

hard work needed.

just spent today wet and drying one side of a 26fter

finished with G3 compound and a hard foam compounding head.

last year i did the same to a 20ft sunseeker, good results but it was hard work.
 
One of the keys with oxidised GRP is to stop it recurring. A good compound will go a fair way to restoring the GRP but if it is not protected the oxidisation will re-occur.

Take a look at Marine A-Glaze (I have an indirect interest as a regional agent). It is not the cheapest product and will still require compound before application but it will address the issue of oxidisation re-occuring once treated. All the info is on the website www.marineaglaze.co.uk

Will
 
Your only choices are to manually rub off the oxidised gel coat. As already described. If that does not give the result you want then it is time to paint it with one of the excellent 2 pack urethane paints or try a standard hull paint. But it may never be like new again. olewill
 
Any number of compounds will remove the oxidation - I use Farecla 3 from a car body shop with lots of water. But unless you are talking small areas, or are interested in building upper body strength, the key is an electric polishing machine again of the sort used in car body shops. Rubbing a boat by hand you get fed up and tired long before you get where you need to be.
 
I agree with the hard work, there are no magic formulas.

I did some sections of my heavily oxidised 30 year old gelcoat. First I wet sanded with a very fine grit paper, then used a cutting compound, then a finer polish, and then a protective UV wax. The results were quite amazing and the surface changed from resembling chalk, to actually looking wet it was so shiny.

I'm going to do the rest of the boat but just the two stages of compound and the wax, with a proper polishing machine I dont think it wil be that hard.
 
HI ALL...THAKS FOR THE BRILLIANT ADVICE... KEEP IT COMMING...
I AM NOT ACTUALLY WORKING ON A BOAT... MY MUM PASSED AWAY LAST YEAR AND SHE OWNED A CITREON AX THAT WAS HER PRIDE AND JOY BUT IT IS HEAVILY OXYDISED.. SO I THOUGHT I WOULD RESTORE IT AS SHE WOULD HAVE LOVED TO DO TO THE CONDITION IT WAS WHEN SHE BOUGHT IT.... AM THOUGHT THIS FORUM WOULD HELP AS LOTS OF BOATS ARE FIBREGLASS....
ONCE AGAIN THANKS FOR THE HELP...
REGARDS
BOB
 
More brilliant advice...

My advice would be always to explain your problem properly - that way you'll save a lot of people's time. Your car is painted fibreglass - not coloured gelcoat. You need to use ordinary car products on it, otherwise you'll just take the paint off.
 
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