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Friday, July 01, 2011

Restoring the surface of your fiberglass boat

Taking care of your fiberglass boat involves a standard treatment for the gel coat to keep it looking great which means cleaning, waxing and polishing. When this is done regularly, boats with a good gel coat have been known to look great for as long a 10 years and in some cases 20 years.When this is not done it often requires heavy compounding to restore the shine.
Compounding- compounding is a polish with a paste containing a fine grit, like the  paste you would use on your car. Don't start compounding your boat right away, before you do anything make sure the wax is removed from the surface. If your boat has a wax build up using acetone will help remove wax containing silicone's. Next, try using a fine grit such as found in compound paste. Work a small area with the compound paste until the fiberglass begins to have a shiny-look. If compounding doesn't do what is needed, you may need to resort to water sanding with fine paper or dry sanding with some what coarser paper. I will talk more about these other methods in my next article. Thanks for reading and I hope this will help you restore your old fiberglass boat. thanks