restoring old fiberglass Deck/Hull

[Steve]

reconditioning

Hi, No experience with having the hull painted, but I asked a guy at the boat shop about repainting my 26X and he led me to believe it would be into triple digits. I'd rather take my chances on a do it yourself job than pay that much. In the West Marine catalog, on p.465 is "Trewax" fiberglass rubbing compound 24oz for $14.99. "It strips away oxidation and chalking without damaging gel coat." Probably about 5 of those and $2-$300 worth of time and elbow grease...you definitely are going to have to use some kind of rubbing compound..I've had good results with any of the Meguiar's stuff. Try the fiberglass color restorer, or the heavy duty oxidation remover on p.467. It will be a lot of work doing it by hand, but mechanical buffers could wreak havoc if the gel coat is thin. If you have gotten it clean enough, you might just decide to roll on the best paint you can affordon the deck, and spray the hull, and roll on below the waterline. You can buy paint sprayers pretty cheap nowadays..It's your boat, and you can paint it any color you want..be conservative or outlandish..I'm sure that if you're careful, it will look 100% better when your done. Not much help, am I? It's just that a long time ago, I quit thinking about how things should look, as opposed to how I would like things to look, and I've been happier ever since.

 

[Carl]

My 1986 Mac25 has been sitting in the Marina for almost 2 years untouched before I bought it. The sun and seagulls have done quite a job on the surface. I scrubbed the stuff off, but the surface looks bad. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, how much does it cost to repaint the hull? Thanks!

 

[Dave M26D]

Pretty sound advice Steve

A decent paint job will cost anywhere from $100-200/ft if done by a boatyard. The biggest reason is the prep. I painted my boat three years ago. I used single part polyurethane and sprayed it on with a HVLP gun I already had. It only took an hour to shoot it, but it took two weeks to prep it. (incidentally, two part polyurethanes are the most durable, but the fumes are quite toxic and most manufacturers discourage DIYs from using it (at least spraying it, unless you have adequate facilities).The result I got from spraying is a mirror finish...literally mirror. The newer InterLux TopLac is supposed to be about the best around in terms of durability (of the single parts)...I used Pettit and couldn't be happier with the result. So far, it has held up very well. I don't wax it. I know I am going to have to shoot it again eventually, and I would rather just clean it and wet sand to prep, rather than having to try and de-wax it again...that was a major pain. Plus I think Interlux discourages waxing a paint finish anyway.Having said that, Steve is right about the various ways to restore the fiberglass and that is the best course of action if you can get the result you want. Once you paint the first time, you'll probably have to paint again eventually.Here is a brief article by Don Casey that might help. If you search the SailNet article archive you can find two more very good articles by Casey as well. Good luck

 

[Kes]

Restore Mac25

Carl ... I know exactly how you feel! I, too, had to leave my boat in the slip when a light stroke wiped out my sense of balance. Eventuially I pulled the boat out of the water and brought it home. I first washed the boat using "SoftScrub" and a soft scour pad. It took several hours of effort, but ... most of the "junk" actually came off and the result was a clean, white hull! Some spots required sdeveral applications of "SoftScrub", but ... the results were quite acceptable. A coat of wax to the hull, brought out the originl shine!Try it ... you might be surprised with the results!

 

[Ramblin Rod]

Poliglow and Meguiars make good products

If it just a matter of gelcoat UV damage you can either restore it (Meguiars Heavy Duty Oxidazation Remover and Flagship premium wax) or you can coat it (Polyglow).After many years of using Meguiars I just tried Polyglow this year. It works good on the hull but reacts with sun tan lotion. Next year, I'll do a maintenance coat of Polyglow on the hull, but go bakc to Meguiars in the cockpit

 

[Dave Blum]

Restore your boat

Like all of these fine boat owners have said, dont fret much, just use a quality product!,,,thats where the work starts, its alot of elbow greese, trust me, my fine boat was subjected to years and years of baking in the Arizona sun, but with alot of work, even enlisted help from neighbors (have to pay them back with a sail trip soon) you can get her back in shape. Mcguires is a fine product, its all about taste, I used 3M Marine Fiberglass Restorer and Wax,,,then I follow with an amazing product of 303 Aerospace Protectant, that gives me the UV that others talk about, none of these are cheap, and it takes alot of work, but it sure beats a 2-3 thousand dollar paint like others have said, and really, once you paint her, you will never stop. Give it a try, give a neighbor a call, and have a waxing party, just thoughts, Dave

 

[Bryan22217]

Star Brite Marine Polish

The nice thing about this stuff is that it continues to pull out the oxidation after the initial application.This is before:

 

[Bryan22217]

and...

after two coats spaced about 3weeks apart. I'm going to do one more application before storing for the winter