Spiffying up a painted fiberglass hull?

[Lazy Jack 32]

On the sides of my 40-year-iold fiberglass schooner, I rolled on an undercoat and two coats of sea green Total Boat Wet Edge one-part semigloss polyurethane 3 years ago. The paint is still in good shape so I don't want to repaint it yet, but it looks dull. I power-washed the hull. Still dull. I scrubbed a patch with detergent and a scotch bright sponge. A little better, but still dull. I don't want to wax it, because I will paint it in a couple of more years.

Online, I'm seeing Southern guys with power boats scrubbing their scuzzy hulls with toilet bowl cleaner, peroxide, and ammonia, then washing with soap and water. But their hulls are white and mine is green. I don't want to screw up the hull and have to repaint it by default. Does any of you have any experience with spiffying up a dark-colored painted hull? The boat, by the way, is kept on a fresh water lake and hauled in the wintertime (It gets cold up here).

Many thanks.

[neilpride]

Humm, wax ,, i guess its the only remedy, you can make a small quick test with On Off acid cleaner, rinse with water really quick and dry towel the area , dont leave the product in your paint more than 5 or 10 seconds.. if you gain some brightness after the test could be the solution. I repeat, dont leave any acid based stuff in your paint longer than seconds .

[rhubstuff]

I would try buffing with polishing compound using a low-speed wheel and a very light touch. IF that doesn't work well, you could try 600 or finer wet-or-dry.

[JPA Cate]

For now, one of the car waxes with polish (rubbing compound) in it is probably your best bet. However, when it comes time to repaint, consider using an automotive quality LPU, and having it sprayed by a professional. Our boat is also painted, and we used the automotive LPU, still shiny after 10 yrs.

Ann

[capt jgw]

Wet Edge is pretty good paint, but it's still a one-part. They fade, especially in darker colors. Polishing compound and wax might bring it back some, but then as you know more work to remove when you do repaint. Next time a two-part like Awlgrip, Alexseal, Perfection, etc will hold up much better. Costs more but worth it.

[Rumrace]

Wax on wax of brother boater. White hulls go yellow and gray because folks put wax on old wax. Your polyester paint had a wax which surfaced to keep oxygen away from the curing poly. It make the paint sort of glossy but washes away really easy. Wax offers little in UV protection. 4 step mothers on faded fibreglass will work great on paint. The primer in a roller assures it will never be a perfect surface.
I would wet sand the second coat of primer add at least 2 more coats before colour got near it.

[Lazy Jack 32]

Lots to think about. Thanks, folks.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Rumrace

Your polyester paint had a wax which surfaced to keep oxygen away from the curing poly.

Polyester paint on a boat ???
Please provide link.

[Lazy Jack 32]

No, I used polyurethane. The etymology sounds like it's made from many strains of bull whiz, but you chemists can set me straight.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Polyester paint on a boat ???
Please provide link.

You know you won't get it don't you.

[ItDepends]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Polyester paint on a boat ???
Please provide link.

Boatpoker, you are tilting at windmills...

He's making stuff up again (still?) I am beginning suspect he gets paid per post, and the less sense it makes the more he gets paid...

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by ItDepends

Boatpoker, you are tilting at windmills...

He's making stuff up again (still?) I am beginning suspect he gets paid per post, and the less sense it makes the more he gets paid...

I've always admired Don Quixote

[Jim Cate]

You can use a product called (here in Oz) Polyglo and IIRC in the states TSRW (this stuff really works) to restore faded and dulled gel coat and paint. It is a very thin polymer... you simply clean the hull with their proprietary cleaner, rinse, and wipe on several coats of the polymer using the applicator included in the kit. The result is a fairly thin and hard layer that mostly restores the color and gloss to the surface. Not as good as new gel coat or paint, but not bad, and it is fairly inexpensive and takes less than a day to do a 36 foot boat (ours, at least). It can be touched up easily and we found that recoating every year kept it looking good to our eyes.

It is important to follow directions (fancy that!). Failure to do so has caused a few folks to whine about how poorly it performs. Ann and I reckon it is a good deal if you don't want to paint just now. It can be quickly removed with an ammonia based cleaner when it is time to paint... no worries there!

Anyhow, it does offer another route to restoration.

Jim

[Chotu]

you know, I just discovered some thing about this.

I thought my paint was still pretty shiny after five years or whatever that it’s been on.

then, my helper used a sharpie on the paint to mark something yesterday. I wasn’t too thrilled about that. I asked him to not do that. He went ahead and cleaned it off using some alcohol. I have never seen a shinier part of my boat since the day I painted it. It was absolutely stunning. Blinding me with sunlight reflecting.

so I’m thinking from this small patch, a solvent might be very good.

[Lazy Jack 32]

Following up, this morning I tried to restore sections of one side of my dark green painted hull using Lysol spray, rubbing alcohol, white vinegar--sold cheap in Walmart for cleaning purposes, and ammonia. Yesterday I tried soap and water. I had already power-washed the hull, so the problem was oxidation and not dirt and scum.

For all five treatments I scrubbed the stuff on with a scotch brite brush, then swabbed with soapy water, flushed with fresh water, buffed dry, and waited until the sections were completely dry.

The ammonia worked best. It took off the oxidation and left a little shine behind--not as much as the fresh paint job, but enough to make the boat look more cared for than abandoned. Rubbing alcohol was a close second, but it left some dull streaky places.Vinegar offered very little improvement, as did soap and water yesterday. Lysol spray didn't improve things at all. Since the ammonia was a lot cheaper than the alcohol (US$1.25 a half gallon), it's the clear winner of the cheap products so far.

We'll have to see how long it takes for the paint to get dull again, though.