Dry gelcoat

[Theraven]

Any recommendation for a product/oil for a neglected gelcoat that is really! dry/oxidized. When I compound the gelcoat sucks up the product and dries out really quickly even in small areas. Wonder if there is product or essential oil I could work in before compounding to ensure even coverage while buffing. I experimented with some woody wax on a section the compounded it and worked great, didn't dry out and it buffed out nicely. Only thing is woody wax isn't cheap. I read that article Mike did where he restored an old oxidized car using a nonabrasive polish I was wondering if that would work in a similar way.

[rustytruck]

Is this a boat?

[Theraven]

Yes

[rustytruck]

Sorry I can't help I only do RV's. Boats get really oxidized.

[Hoytman]

I have read on Meguiar'sonline that Meguiar's #7 can be applied to gel-coat that is heavily oxidized to put oils on the surface before compounding to make compounding easier. You'd have to search the Boat/RV articles on the Meguiar's forum to find it.

However, I tried the approach above and wasn't too pleased with the results. Of course, my situation is only one situation, so experimenting might be the thing to try.

I ended up using Meguiars M67 One Step Marine Compound (http://www.autogeek.net/meguiars-one-step-marine-compound.html) . This compound uses a diminishing abrasive that breaks down into a nice polish. It cuts hard and fast, breaks down good, a polishes just fine.

Just as you found, at first the compound I applied seemed to dry up quickly because of the heavy oxidation. Oxidation by its nature is dry, just as some compounds seem dry by nature. The solution for me was to use much more product for added lubrication, applied with a Meguiar's W4000 wool pad on a rotary. Spurring the pad after each section served me well also.

The choice to keep applying more and more product until it seemed to have better working time did a very nice job for me and helped me to dial in a good technique.

I then took a foam polishing pad and applied Meguiars #7 Show Car Glaze is a final step auto glaze to enhanced the gloss prior to wax application. Get a show car shine with Meguiars #7 Show Car (http://www.autogeek.net/meg7showcarg.html) which has lots and lots of good oils in it. You could also use Meguiars #45 Marine/RV Polish is a fiberglass polish that nourishes and cleans the gel coat to keep it looking great! Follow Meguiars Marine/RV boat (http://www.autogeek.net/rv-boat-polish.html) as it is very similar to M7.

[BillE]

Totally agree with Bill^^^^^^!

Bill

[Hoytman]

One thing I failed to mention about using M7 on your boat...

And again, this is only one situation, but it happened none-the-less.

...is to be careful about using M7 around any of the black rocker switches such as these COLE HERSEE Contura Rocker Switches at West Marine (http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=109403&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=50523&subdeptNum=50549&classNum=50557) that you might see on many of today's coastal and off shore boats.

My dad, by accident, got some M7 on these swithces and it melted the rubber coating right off of them. I found it by bumping up against the switches and then having to find out where all of th black marks were coming from, only to find black stuff all over my hands where I had bumped the switches. It was a mess, and required about $80 to replace all of the switches that this happened to, not to mention gas money to get new switches and the time going to get them and replacement time.

I'd say that while it was an interesting find, it was also a costly accident.

[Theraven]

Thanks for the great advice!!!!