[Rhodes22-list]restoring finish to fiberglass questions... advice requested

FNuttersNY at aol.com FNuttersNY at aol.com
Tue Apr 6 22:19:02 EDT 2004


My 73 has never been painted neither top or bottom.  The hull is chaulky 
looking instead of the origonal light blue.   I started to polish it with #7 
rubbing compond and a 6 inch orbital polisher. I also tried 150 grit sand paper on 
the orbital and noticed some cross hatch  areas almost resembeling  heavy 
fiberglass matting.  This patern could also be seen in certain other parts of the 
hull  before I did any polishing.  Note that  the gell coat is entirely intact 
accept for a chip here and there.  At these locations I can se the thicknesss 
of the gell coat and it looks substantial.  I tried sanding   out the cross 
hatch pattern in one small location and was abble to remove it leaving a nice 
blue finish.  I polished that area with #7 white polishing compound which 
restored the shine with farely even coloring.  Question:  should the hull be 
lightly sanded, polished, and waxed?  Just polished and waxed?  I'm afraid I may not 
get an even result by sanding down the entire hull.  I may be taking to much 
gell coat off and getting close to the fiber glass?  A polish and wax job  
will be a great improvement but by sanding can I restore the color like new?


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