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Armor All and old gelcoat
- Thread starter BDARCHER
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Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
In the 80s, it was popular among boat detailers to "feed" gelcoat with household oil-based products, like 303 Protectant, Armor-All, Penetrol, even transmission or mineral oil. While they restored the color and helped to block UV light, they soon washed out.
http://www.boatbuilding.net/article.pl?sid=06/04/20/1158245
http://www.boatbuilding.net/article.pl?sid=06/04/20/1158245
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
Wet Willie, 2002, Scream and Fly
Wet Willie 06-11-2002, 10:49 AMI restored the gelcoat on my Glastron/Carlson this past Winter. It had faded to the point where you could barely tell there was metalflake under it and the color was teal instead of blue because the clear gelcoat had yellowed so badly. It was a mother of a job mainly because the previous owner was into soaking the deck with Armor-All. Biggest problem was getting that stuff off (and out) of the gelcoat.
I cleared it with Kemron clear and it looks like a new boat. Excellent and well worth the effort. Midwest Chemicals sells it direct. Very reasonable price and helpful staff. Easy stuff to work with and very durable.
Good luck.
Wet Willie 06-11-2002, 10:49 AMI restored the gelcoat on my Glastron/Carlson this past Winter. It had faded to the point where you could barely tell there was metalflake under it and the color was teal instead of blue because the clear gelcoat had yellowed so badly. It was a mother of a job mainly because the previous owner was into soaking the deck with Armor-All. Biggest problem was getting that stuff off (and out) of the gelcoat.
I cleared it with Kemron clear and it looks like a new boat. Excellent and well worth the effort. Midwest Chemicals sells it direct. Very reasonable price and helpful staff. Easy stuff to work with and very durable.
Good luck.
Slandrew
New member
When you heard it did you have alcohol in you?
uke:
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
Instructions
Things You'll Need
Soapy water
Clean rags
Rubbing alcohol
Glass cleaner
Paper towels
Suggest Edits
1
Add some grease-cutting detergent to a bucket of warm to hot water. Dip a rag in the bucket and scrub your glass.
2
Put some rubbing alcohol on a clean cloth. If the soapy water didn't remove the Armor All from your glass, rub the entire area with the rubbing alcohol until the Armor All that has smeared your glass is completely removed.
3
Spray glass cleaner on the glass to clean up any streaks. You can use any brand, including Armor All's glass cleaner.
4
Wipe off the glass cleaner with a lint-free rag or paper towels. Be sure to wipe it away rather than let it dry on its own to prevent further streaking.
Read more: How to Clean Armor All Off Glass | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4896572_clean-armor-off-glass.html#ixzz1cdohetr9
Things You'll Need
Soapy water
Clean rags
Rubbing alcohol
Glass cleaner
Paper towels
Suggest Edits
1
Add some grease-cutting detergent to a bucket of warm to hot water. Dip a rag in the bucket and scrub your glass.
2
Put some rubbing alcohol on a clean cloth. If the soapy water didn't remove the Armor All from your glass, rub the entire area with the rubbing alcohol until the Armor All that has smeared your glass is completely removed.
3
Spray glass cleaner on the glass to clean up any streaks. You can use any brand, including Armor All's glass cleaner.
4
Wipe off the glass cleaner with a lint-free rag or paper towels. Be sure to wipe it away rather than let it dry on its own to prevent further streaking.
Read more: How to Clean Armor All Off Glass | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4896572_clean-armor-off-glass.html#ixzz1cdohetr9
Blue Oval
Well-known member
Spray the heck out of it with windex and use a paper towel a couple times, the old time detailers would clean the windshield with newspaper.
Nothing will fix chalky gel. But the good news is there's good gel just under that chalk.
I did a "barn find" this summer. It sat uncoverred in a grove of trees for almost 20 years. My local body shop supply set me up with these 6" foam backed discs in 1000, 2000 and 4000 grit. I put them on my DA with a 3M foam backer disc- velcro on both sides. This prevents digging in on sharp corners. I started with the 1000 and the spray bottle. It cut fast right until the chalk was gone, so it was easy to tell when to move on. I did the angles and inside corners with a disc off the DA, folded in half. Same with the 2k. The 4k left a finish that was almost perfect. I hit it with 3M Imperial lightly and finished with Finesse-It. Then I did a couple coats of Collinite.
If you want to skip all that and don't mind regular re-application, use the Collinite paste. You might get close to a month of Ok shine on dead gel.
The 3M Ultra Perf is good wax too, But about twice the cost Imperial and Ultra are from their marine line and probably not available locally.
I did a "barn find" this summer. It sat uncoverred in a grove of trees for almost 20 years. My local body shop supply set me up with these 6" foam backed discs in 1000, 2000 and 4000 grit. I put them on my DA with a 3M foam backer disc- velcro on both sides. This prevents digging in on sharp corners. I started with the 1000 and the spray bottle. It cut fast right until the chalk was gone, so it was easy to tell when to move on. I did the angles and inside corners with a disc off the DA, folded in half. Same with the 2k. The 4k left a finish that was almost perfect. I hit it with 3M Imperial lightly and finished with Finesse-It. Then I did a couple coats of Collinite.
If you want to skip all that and don't mind regular re-application, use the Collinite paste. You might get close to a month of Ok shine on dead gel.
The 3M Ultra Perf is good wax too, But about twice the cost Imperial and Ultra are from their marine line and probably not available locally.
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
I'll go check a spot on the Chris. The deck on it has not been repainted like the rest of the boat.
BDARCHER
New member
How did it look. There has got to be something better for gelcoat than wax this day an age.
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
I haven't checked it yet. But, I'm still reading about other stuff.
The biggest issue in the Armor All appears to be the silicon.
Read this and see what you think.
http://randyscustomdetail.com/FAQ.aspx
The biggest issue in the Armor All appears to be the silicon.
Read this and see what you think.
http://randyscustomdetail.com/FAQ.aspx
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