Removing Fuel Stains from OLD Gelcoat

[off-the-grid]

Some gas leaked out of the carb on the POS old outboard that I finally got rid of. Any suggestions on how to remove the stains. I saw a post on another board where every idea was pretty much followed with a reply saying "That doesn't work." In the end it seems wet sanding was the only way.

[Dulcesuenos]

Try fsr fiberglass stain remover,, west marine works good

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by grunzster

In the end it seems wet sanding was the only way.

That was going to be my first suggestion

Not anywhere near as brutal as it sounds - well, if you don't use 60 grit in a belt sander

[minaret]

Wet sand and buff is easy. Just don't use anything coarser than 400. I would start and finish with 800 wet for a stain on gelcoat. Compound with 3M Perfect-It on a wool compounding pad, followed by Finesse-It on a foam pad, followed by hand waxing with a quality paste wax. It'll look better than new. If the rest of your boat isn't perfect, don't take it this far, then you'll have to do the rest of the hull to make it match. Stop after compounding with Perfect-It. On a relatively flat area of hull with no trim or hardware in the way I like to use a DA with 800 grit film discs. Makes what would take hours hand-sanding wet take minutes machine-sanding dry. Guide coat if you are not a pro. And if your gelcoat has porosity issues, don't bother. The stain will have soaked into the pores and you wont be able to wet sand it out without blowing through. This case would require you to shoot some gel to cover it up.

[delmarrey]

Have you tried MEK or acetone?

[off-the-grid]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

Have you tried MEK or acetone?

Not yet. Acetone was of the suggestions from that other post, that didn't work.

Think I may just go the wet sanding route...or based on minaret's post, possibly a touch up.

[Hud3]

Did you try Davis FSR? (what Dulcesuenos recommended)

In my experience it gets rid of just about anything, including your skin if you're not careful.

If you decide to try it, let it sit "long enough", but not "too long" before rinsing it off.