I am intending to slip my RL24 in a new shed for some long overdue restoration work. Apart from a similar gelcoat fading problem, mine has numerous minor crazing and one small through hull crack from an earlier life of hard racing on the bay. Not being a FRP whip I would appreciate any guidance and pointers to suitable reading material etc., for reading up on techniques and materials best suited to restoring the old girl. Intention then is to finish with paint on the lower surfaces.
Hi Gent's, If you do a Google search for "how to restore gelcoat" or "how to repair crazing in gelcoat" you will find many articles and even tutorials on your subjects.
I am trying to clean up mine at the moment. Very oxidised gel coat and lots of really grubby marks and paint traces. Found that a good cut and polish paste seems to work fine. Not sure of the brand but came in a 500ml tin for about $12.50. I think it was called extra cut and polish or something like that. The guy at Muirs (Manly) said that I would need to use a machine buffer as I would not shift it by hand. He was right it is hard work but adding some water to the cloth makes it a lot easier. Even got stuck in to the cot pit floor by applying the paste and using a course scrubbing brush. This certainly removes the oxidisation and most marks but not so good on the paint and clue traces. The improvement is remarkable. Will need a couple more tins to do the entire topsides and a few hours! I also tried an acid wash first and this did some good but probably not worth the effort as the cut and polish did much better. The acid wash looks like it will be good for the sides though. As it certainly removes rush and other marks easily.
Not sure what to put over the clean surfaces now though.
