Restoring faded old gel coat

[SimonA]

The topsides on my boat are in green gel coat. Over the years this has faded and does not look great. Last year I tried several products to restore the finish. Autoglym did the best job and I had her looking lovely. But it did not last. A month or so later and it started to fade back to how it was before. I tried again and this time used an Autoglym product on top which is supposed to seal it. That did not last either.

Anyone know of a product which will seal in the shine? I don't want to do too much more cutting into the gel coat as it's become very thin in a couple of small places to the extent I can see the glass fibres (on the roof).

 

[clivew05]

A-Glaze

 

[gibbowolfie]

Was about to say same as I'll be trying it in a few weeks.

 

[miket]

In my opinion once the surface has gone all you can do is try to make the time in between polishing a little longer and be satisfied with a less than high gloss finish.
I have used Autoglym polishes and found them very successful.
I have also used Farecla G3 (compound) G10 (cleaner) followed by Autoglym Super resin polish.
I am now on to the 3M's range of products which may be slightly better (result) than above but are hard work.
The one common factor is that each time I wash down the boat, which would be at least once a month I use a bucket of water with Triple Wax shampoo in the water, which rightly or wrongly, I feel keeps the wax topped up. I rarely polish the boat more than twice a season and often just at the beginning and end.
My boat is 26 years old and still looking good.

 

[clivew05]

I have just finished A-Glazing - I used their own brand G3 equivalant, then their Prep Polish and finally the sealer - My gel coat had faded (in 10 years) and the Pre Cut got it back to gleeming white - added the Prep polish and this was like a mirror - and finally put the sealant on to keep it shining - no hard work involved at all - didnt even need to use a mechanical polisher for the cutting!!!! I also have some A-Glaze Shampoo which they recommend just washing the boat down with once a month (I do it after every trip) to keep it shining .... so far its been two weeks and its gleeming like a new boat still .......

Cheers
Clive

 

[gibbowolfie]

Clive, Did you get the <30ft complete boat pack and find it enough? Did you find 1ltr of the precut enough. What size boat do you have btw?

 

[clivew05]

[ QUOTE ]
Clive, Did you get the <30ft complete boat pack and find it enough? Did you find 1ltr of the precut enough. What size boat do you have btw?

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a 36ft Boat and I have more than half ofthe bottle of Pre Cut left - and 1/3 bottle of prep - I did use both Bottles of Sealant - but ordered an extra two on the advice of the A-Glaze techy as he said that I needed that for the 36ft and to put two coats of sealant on as it had not been done before - but the original two did the job - so 1 kit the pre cut and the extra two bottles £220 all in all including postage from A-Glaze web site - was enough to bring her back to like new! and I have a full bottle of A- Glaze shampoo left which should last me the season it is estimated .... well worth the momey IMHO ....

Clive

 

[gibbowolfie]

Thanks Clive.

 

[gjgm]

not so sure about A glaze. Depends on the state of the gelcoat. If its just faded, it could be cut back, but gel will reach a point that you cant get the shine back, whatever you try.

 

[gibbowolfie]

Simon, orginal poster, did say he'd used Autoglym and it polished well but didn't stay that way so I'd assume it wasn't oxidised just grimy. Maybe wrong.

I think it was I and others who commented on AGlaze brought up the cutting business. I've got a 3 year old boat that just hasn't been cleaned well before (previous owner) and I defo need to cut through the haze but I know the gel coat is good underneath.

If the gel coat has gone no cut or polish will get it back, in fact it could make it worse.

Reason I fancy AGlaze is the sealant to try to stop so much grime in the first place as I'd rather be on a trip than on my hands and knees scrubbing in the marina /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[SimonA]

Thank you for the answers. My boat is 31 years old and the gel coat has seen better days. I can get it to shine, the problem was keeping it that way as I don't want to keep cutting due to the gel coat getting very thin.

The hull is painted, it's just the topsides that I need to sort out. I want to avoid painting them if at all possible. I'm not expecting a miracle shine, just something that looks half decent.