Fiberglass Canoe Resoration Q's?

[Gavin]

Picking up a new hull in a coupla days...Mad River fiberglass solo canoe..Late 80's vintage, .15' or so ..... I think....needs some work, wood outer gunnels look shot, might be able to salvage the inner gunnels & mahogany decks..but its been out in the sun a bunch and the gel coat is faded....Nice boat that has been neglected...looking to bring it back.

Need a hint on bringing the hull back to a gel coat luster?...May need a lumber mill recommendation for the gunnels and the deck work. Closer to STL the better.

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[Al Agnew]

First thing I'd try for the gel coat is just a good car wax and a lot of buffing. My fiberglass solos come right back to looking almost like new (if you don't look at the horribly scarred up bottoms!) with a coat of car wax. They sit out in the sun constantly, and they are about that old.

[Jack Jones]

Hey al, does a car wax work okay on Royalex too?

[LarrySTL]

• Gavin, try Nu Finish. It works well on cars and fiberglass boats at pulling that chalky oxidation out and its not a huge amount of work to use.
  

[Guest]

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[Gavin]

Thanks for the suggestions....I've never waxed any of my royalex canoes....but that 303 UV protectant does a pretty good job, IMO.

[ColdWaterFshr]

I try to wax my boats at least once a month.

Holy wax-on, wax-off Daniel-son. You busy guy.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, I've waxed my Royalex boats in the past. Then started just using Armor All. Then somebody told me that Armor All wasn't too good for them for some reason, and the last couple of years I've been using 303. I've never seen much difference between any of them...they all make the boat slick (don't do it on the inside!). The car wax REALLY makes fiberglass glide over the gravel and logs.

[Gavin]

Thinking its a Mad River Slipper made between 1986-1992 or so...14'8" similar to the Wenonah Vagabond (that I regret selling) ...Looking forward to floating this one.

[Guest]

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