Hallelujah!

[The D]

And praise the AIO! I picked a hell of a time to try joining a detailing forumÂ…

Hello, everyone. I hope all is well. I tried joining a few large detailing forums a few weeks ago. Unbeknownst to me, right in the middle of a ton of tech problems with them. Well, they seem to be ironed out and I can finally get on with my adventure into detailing

This all started in the middle of July. We(me, wife, 3 young boys) rented a small travel trailer to spend a week camping in the Colorado mountains(can definitely recommend the Ouray/Ridgeway area). This lit a fire under my wife and she started looking to buy one for ourselves. Fast forward a few weeks and we went window shopping…but ended up finding something perfect for us at a pretty good price at the first place we visited. So now we have a ‘18 Dutchman Kodiak ultra-light hybrid camper. And the next weekend(Labor Day weekend) we took it on its maiden voyage to the mountains. We got a primitive site that someone told my wife was camper compatible. Technically it was, because we made it out ourselves. But… The “road” to this site was basically a barely beaten 4x4 trail and our site was the last of 3 along the way. Oh, and I had to do a 37 point turn, with the camper, to turn around in the middle of the forest to be able to get the camper in the site and then to get back out to the main dirt road. Fun times. Needless to say both the camper and our tow vehicle(‘13 Ford Explorer) have several scratches down the side. We got some of the damage cleaned off after we got home in a self-serve car wash. And on top of that(it just keeps getting better!) I was able to inspect the camper closer last weekend, after another weekend trip) and found that the super faded clear coat was actually bare fiberglass. It must have been stored with that side facing the sun and had never been taken care of and the clear coat got baked off. So that’s one of my projects for this winter

Which leads me to the debacle of trying to join a detailing forum to get some advice on how to proceed. And while I was waiting for the tech issues to be resolved I was at least able to search the internets to piece together a game plan. IÂ’m pretty sure I figured out how IÂ’ll proceed from here but I definitely need some questions answered

[Rsurfer]

WelcomeI don't believe that fiberglass has clear coat, but is covered in gelcoat (like a boat). Do you own a buffer?

[The D]

Yes, gel coat. I know the difference but I use the terms interchangeably. I just ordered a da and have a buffer. They’re cheap stuff but I intend to buy some better stuff in the future after I figure out what I’m doing

[Rsurfer]

Yes, gel coat. I know the difference but I use the terms interchangeably. I just ordered a da and have a buffer. They’re cheap stuff but I intend to buy some better stuff in the future after I figure out what I’m doing

How oxidized is the gelcoat? You will probably need a compound and finish with a polish. Always do a test spot and use the least aggressive combo of pad and polish.

[Rsurfer]

Go on youtube and type in "polishing gel coat". that would be your best teacher.

[The D]

Most of the gel coat is gone. There are still spots left but there what looks like bubbles that are peeling up.

[Rsurfer]

Most of the gel coat is gone. There are still spots left but there what looks like bubbles that are peeling up.

Any pictures? I'm not an expert on gelcoat, but maybe someone else will chime in after seeing the pictures.

[The D]

No pics, at least not for a little while. ItÂ’s stored about 20 minutes away and weÂ’re doing other stuff today

[Silly Rabbit]

Welcome!!

[The D]

Thank you