Cleaning a fiberglass hull

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Keith K.

I'll be putting my Cat22 in the water soon, but I'd like to make the hull shinier and cleaner. What product should I use, and how should I apply it? It's not filthy but it is a bit dull. Any help would be great. Keith K. S/V Vesta
 

Mac

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Jun 7, 2006
436
MacGregor 25 KEUKA lake NY
3M Products

I have had two boats, one a 1978 and most recently a Catalina 25-1989. On both I made them look new and shiny. Wash your hull, I use tide laundry soap. Use 3M Heavy Polishing Compound. Put on with a buffer (wool pad) working a two foot sq area at a time, keep the pad clean by spurring it up with the reverse end of a pair of pliars. You can be aggressive. Wax it with 3m Ultra Performance Wax (paste-carnuba). It goes on by hand and I polished it off with a clean wool pad, you have to keep the speed down on the buffer or it will get hot and gum up. I put four coats on the boot stripe and three on the hull and it looks great, a bright deep shine. If the gel coat has darkend/oxidized due to sun you can sand with wet/dry sand paper 600 grit, then go with the rubbing compound and wax. Test the polishing compound first, the transom is a good place to start and learn. Hope this helps
 
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Bob Camarena

Island Girl

I've had good experience with Island Girl products. Check out the Gel Coat and Plastics forum on this site. Island Girl takes a different approach than other companies plus, you can deal directly with the company's owner, Jim Willis if you need help/advice.
 
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