Will never polish by hand again

The paint finish on a Motorhome is not that thick Maguirs oxidation remover appears to remove some of the paint. Be Ok on gelcoat as its reasonably thick by comparison to MH side walls.,
 
It was the gelcoat finish I was struggling with, all good now. Just used polish on the sides which is a different construction

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It is pretty normal to clean grp boat hulls (top sides, not below the waterline) with oxalic acid before polishing. That doesn’t take any of the gel coat off. I might try it on my Hymer front as just polishing seems not enough to give a deep finish.
Anyone done this to their van?
 
Peppadog said:
It is pretty normal to clean grp boat hulls (top sides, not below the waterline) with oxalic acid before polishing. That doesn’t take any of the gel coat off. I might try it on my Hymer front as just polishing seems not enough to give a deep finish.
Anyone done this to their van?
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Interesting , i've never heard of it , so i looked it up . I assume you know how toxic it is ?
 
airwave said:
Interesting , i've never heard of it , so i looked it up . I assume you know how toxic it is ?
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I have not actually used it on my hull, but I have watched most of my mates at the club use it on older hulls. Yes, toxic stuff, I think its a diluted solution, but will check and advise. I have used oxalic acid crystals on my deck though, where anchor chain and similar rust stains the gel coat. Sprinkle some on, agitate with water and brush to get the marks off - it does - then rinse off with a couple of buckets of sea water. Spotless.
Incidentally, I, and my mates, hand or machine polish depending preference or speed. Most of us with a product called McQuires (I might have mis-spelled that). It does the job very well. Though our chandlery might be an influencing factor in the brand usage!
 
Peppadog said:
I have not actually used it on my hull, but I have watched most of my mates at the club use it on older hulls. Yes, toxic stuff, I think its a diluted solution, but will check and advise. I have used oxalic acid crystals on my deck though, where anchor chain and similar rust stains the gel coat. Sprinkle some on, agitate with water and brush to get the marks off - it does - then rinse off with a couple of buckets of sea water. Spotless.
Incidentally, I, and my mates, hand or machine polish depending preference or speed. Most of us with a product called McQuires (I might have mis-spelled that). It does the job very well. Though our chandlery might be an influencing factor in the brand usage!
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Meguiars I think you mean, a lot of motorhomers use it too.

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Antony bleasdale said:
Treat myself to a dual action polisher and with maguirs oxidation remover, Polish and carnauba wax she looks amazing. Never got anywhere near this finish before?
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When I had a boat I used a machine simply because 20 metres of GRP was daunting, however with our MHs I prefer doing it by hand so I get close and personal to all the surfaces, it is amazing what you will see. For example I picked up very early the tiniest of pin heads of osmosis on the front GRP cap of the Flair which led to the van going back to the factory for a complete repaint.
Still have the 2 polishers. Thing to be aware of for newbie users on GRP, high speed and too much pressure can lead very quickly to burn marks as the gel overheats, also gel is very thin, not as thin as paint of course however edges could already have been attacked at the factory by enthusiastic finishers and you are at risk of polishing down to the mat. I can point you to examples on my Morelo so take care.
 
Be very careful which polish you use, use a low cut polish only. Like this Polish
 
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Peppadog said:
Most of us with a product called McQuires (I might have mis-spelled that).
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Yes you have , but not enough to pick you up on . The pronunciation is the same , so most people will know what you mean , and it's quite a commonly used product .
As for the oxial acid , from what i read even a small amount can be fatal to humans . In addition , it can cause side effects ranging from burns , through to convulsions , however as someone has quite rightly mention , it's commonly found in food stuffs .
So long as your aware of it ! .

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tonyidle said:
Me too. I foam wash before each trip. That's it.
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I'm almost the same , except i wash after each trip and not a full wash either . I started to use the cleaners and polishes listed in this site , but to be honest found no benefit to using them . Actually i found collinite to be more , expensive , and difficult to obtain , plus being fussy and harder to remove , if left too long . So i've reverted back to my usual brand of Turtle wash with wax , and Turtle wax itself , both hard and liquid . The finish is exactly the same , costs less , my local motorist shop has it in stock , and the advantage that every time i wash the van , it gets another coat of wax . A recent wash had the flies falling over themselves to come off the the van , and it still looks as good as the day i did it . I do still use Bobby dazzler , and thing's like slinky , plus a few others products , but the jury's still out with the snow foam .

That's my honest opinion .
 
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sallylillian said:
When I had a boat I used a machine simply because 20 metres of GRP was daunting, however with our MHs I prefer doing it by hand so I get close and personal to all the surfaces, it is amazing what you will see. For example I picked up very early the tiniest of pin heads of osmosis on the front GRP cap of the Flair which led to the van going back to the factory for a complete repaint.
Still have the 2 polishers. Thing to be aware of for newbie users on GRP, high speed and too much pressure can lead very quickly to burn marks as the gel overheats, also gel is very thin, not as thin as paint of course however edges could already have been attacked at the factory by enthusiastic finishers and you are at risk of polishing down to the mat. I can point you to examples on my Morelo so take care.
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Hi Michael

You would/should need wet and dry to get that far through a gelcoat, sounds like their laminators need a kick up the jacksy.

Martin
 
funflair said:
Hi Michael

You would/should need wet and dry to get that far through a gelcoat, sounds like their laminators need a kick up the jacksy.

Martin
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Maybe Martin, but on one sharp acute edge in the black gel I can see its thin. Admittedly only about 15mm long but I think they have had trouble with the black gel on the new Palace Liner.
Unfortunately not sure how it can be invisibly reinstated.
 
sallylillian said:
Maybe Martin, but on one sharp acute edge in the black gel I can see its thin. Admittedly only about 15mm long but I think they have had trouble with the black gel on the new Palace Liner.
Unfortunately not sure how it can be invisibly reinstated.
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With great difficulty would be the answer but I am surprised that there is a problem on sharp outside edges as these are of course inside corners during the moulding process so more prone to thick than thin.

Martin

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