fibreglass restorer

[senator]

When we first had Clanny she was badly oxidised and needed a fair bit of elbow grease but the discovery of a product called maguiars fiberglass restorer helped a great deal, knocking out oxidisation very quickly.

Well now shamefully, partly due to the weather and partly through other issues Clanny needs a deep clean.

Just went on line to try to find this magic stuff but it doesn't seem to be around anymore. Seem to remember that the agent was in Norfolk so wondered if anyone else new where to get it?

[senator]

Found it, wasn't Maguiars it was Collinite 920 fiberglass restorer.

[GrantS]

Not trying to be funny here Ian, but i assume you are referring to cleaning the Gel Coat. Yet the product is called Fibreglass Restorer (which is underneath)

[Antares_9]

It is a bit of a misnomer I guess Grant, though they are all (3M, McGuires et al) gel coat restorers the only one that is actually called gel coat restorer is Farecla I think, the others are called colour restorer, fibreglass restorer etc.

[senator]

I wouldn't imagine that there is that much of a market for cleaning up the glass fiber but you are obviously not alone as even on the Colinite web description they put in a little comment as to it often being called gel coat restorer.

[MBA Marine]

I use Crystal glo, they do a gel restorer and a treatment. customers that i have polished with crystal glo have said it stayed glossy for ages and they only had to hose down to clean it afterwards.

I buy from Marine and Industrial but im sure the usual chandlers will also have it.

[mjt]

Conjures up a lovely picture of a well-polished customer being hosed down.

[mjt]

Tried to edit my last post but it had obviously timed out on me. It would be nice to have a bit longer to make edits.

I was going to ask if this was the product you meant? Last year I bought a polishing kit from CleanYourCar.co.uk. It came with a dual-action polisher and a selection of Sonus liquids and pads. This spring I tried machine-polishing our badly oxidised and stained deckhead using the scratch remover, which is the most agressive of the liquids, and the results were astonishing - the shiniest and cleanest I've ever managed to get it. I finished it off with Starbrite wax.

Obviously this isn't something one should do too often as it will eventually go right through the gelcoat (that's already starting to happen on our 40-year-old boat) so it's vital to keep refreshing the wax to delay the oxidation as far as possible.

[VetChugger]

I might be wrong but I seem to recall a product called "Barkeepers Friend" being a cheapish but good alternative!

Trevor

www.normanboats.co.uk

[Guest]

This year I was introduced to Starbrite Liquid Rubbing Compound and it has proven to be very effective. Polishing after application is, of course, essential as the product strips all existing protection from the gelcoat. It's available in medium and heavy duty guises and can be purchased from your local swindlery...or you could order it online and avoid the rip-off factor...