Hello Oll,
I’ve been working in the marine industry for 40 years. gelcoat is very similar to paint in it’s required care. CUT, POLISH, WAX !! A heavily oxidized gelcoat will require cutting with sponge abrasive wheels. If you have not had experience with this , it would be best to learn from someone experienced. There are excellent YouTube tutorials on this if you are feeling too cheap to pay someone or, honestly want to learn yourself . Most important are cutting implement abrasive grades, polisher speed adjustment during passes and pressure applied to surface as you go. Polishing a new paint/gelcoat or an old weather/industrial impurity/sun damaged finish is an acquired, hands on skill. The most forgiving victim would be an auto/boat that is moderately oxidized. Find an old car that needs a polish and go to it. It can only look better, so you won’t have to worry too much about barking up an $80,000 trailer.
After all of these years polishing boats and cars, I have come to be unimpressed with highly specialized products. Any product that promises high gloss without your flesh as a toll, is packed with disproportionate amounts of petroleum products like oil or grease (most likely salad oil from the local grocer). While some amount of these two ingredients are normal and desired, too much is harmful when left on and especially when activated by U.V. Influence. (Think Amorall after two weeks in the sun)
I recently bought an Ollie elite used (02/10/2022) from a guy that neglected to clean and care for the exterior finish (gel coat) and had it stored outside in Albuquerque N.M. The finish had a good bit of oxidation on the upper end sections. The gel coat was slightly yellow and not reflective at all (moderate oxidation). I chose to do a 4 stage polish restoration on these two areas , 3 stage on the upper sides and a 2 stage on the lower tub portion of ol’ Boondock. I use a dual action orbital polisher from Harbor freight (@$100) combined with the foam polishing pads in the specified cutting abrasives and the Maguire cut, polish and wax in their respected levels of abrasion for cut and polish. It is important to match the pad and polish cut levels. All of these items can be purchased at Harbor freight. The complete works for a 4 stage polish will cost about $300.00 . A 1 time detail (polish and wax, no cutting) for your Ollie by a competent detailer will run you $400-800 if they are any good and experienced. A 4 stage polish on an 18’ trailer takes 2 full days, a 2 stage ,1 full day. Ask yourself how much you would charge for your two days of experienced, dirty, manual labor.
I’m only stating my experience here. If you disagree, tell your life mate, not me. Maintaining expensive, shiny things is expensive and time consuming. The maintenance part of acquiring and maintaining these things “comes with the dinner”.
have a great day, B
