I had an interesting experience trying to improve the appearance of the faded finish (which started off red and had faded to a dark pink) and numerous fiberglass scratches in my 15 year old fiberglass kayak (not the same as a paddle, but at least they're both glass). I tried a variety of waxes, cleaners, polishes, "swirl remover", rubbing compound, etc, although most of these were intended for car finishes. Some would seem to fill in the scratches and improve the appearance for a while, but nothing seemed to last. Worse, some of these eventually seemed to produce a cloudy haze after a while. "Then one day" (<-- these kind of passages always seem to include that phrase) I was adding an marine oil finish (intended for finishing wood trim on boats) to the wooden compass mount I made for my kayak and a little accidentally got onto the fiberglass. I quickly rubbed it off and noticed the depth of the color looked much better and the scratches looked less noticeable! So I tried a little more in an inconspicuous area and then checked it the next day in case it was going to damage the finish. Everything seemed fine. So I applied it to the whole kayak. Not exactly a miraculous, but a very noticeable improvement and it didn't eventually haze over. Evan Dallas Woodinville, Washington *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
"Evan Dallas" <evand_at_pensionresourcegroup.com> wrote: >I had an interesting experience trying to improve the appearance of the > faded finish (which started off red and had faded to a dark pink) and > numerous fiberglass scratches in my 15 year old fiberglass kayak [snip] > [I added] a marine oil finish (intended for finishing wood trim > on boats) to the wooden compass mount I made for my kayak and a little > accidentally got onto the fiberglass. I quickly rubbed it off and noticed > the depth of the color looked much better [snip] > So I applied it to the whole kayak. Evan, what was the oil? Any damage to the FG might be in the future of the yak as the oil penetrates the lay-up. A more certain way to "restore" lustre to your gel coat, within limits, would be to buff out the scratches and haze with a FG finishing compound, and then to polish it out with marine grade paste wax ... all relatively inexpensive products available off the shelf at the local marine supply store, and only needing some elbow grease (or, a large pad on a power drill and a couple hours of each stage). Down side: the buffing takes a thin layer of gel coat off, so this only works once or twice before the underlying lay-up begins to show. Then it's time for a re-gel coat job ... a task for professionals, running several hundred dollars most likely, and worth doing to extend the lifetime of the boat. Gel coat is designed to be sacrificial ... much as we slough off dead skin to allow fresh cells to rise to our surfaces. My gnarled skin is testimony to the fun I've had in the sun and on the water ... I wear it like a badge of honor ... just as I know where every major scratch on my 13-season-old Eddyline Wind Dancer came from. Each is visible evidence of a fine time I had. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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