Waxing

[hbschof]

Do you all wax the decals when waxing and if you have advice  for brand of  caulking ? 

Thank you 

[CRM]

I always wax decals, but never compound or polish over them.

[Patriot]

I use what Oliver recommends this ASI 335 - and have been happy with it. Do an online search for the best price.
I also wax but never use a buffer on decals only a clean Terry cloth. 

Patriot 🇺🇸

 

[Katjo]

Yes, we do wax over the decal.👍🏼

[topgun2]

 

If you don't wax those decals, you will have one heck of a time getting bugs and other "stuff" off.

I always give my decals a bit of extra wax just to make sure they are as "sealed" as I can get them.

Bill

[Mike and Carol]

Yes, decals get wax.

[SeaDawg]

Ditto. Decals still look pretty good, 15th season.

[hbschof]

Thank you all 

[hbschof]

Do you compound before you wax or just wax  ?

Thank you 

[Mike and Carol]

15 minutes ago, hbschof said:

Do you compound before you wax or just wax  ?

Thank you 

Depends.  On a new trailer I don’t think there’s a need.  On one that has some oxidation, maybe depending on how much.  I have a couple of times, probably every 2 to 3 years for me.  I’m considering the ceramic thing, those trailers look great.  Mike

[hbschof]

Thanks Mike , ours is a 2020 

[dewdev]

hbschof:

I wax over my decals.

I have a 2018 Elite II and I have never seen any oxidation (like I would see in my past older boats) on the fiberglass but in the spring there is some dark water stains on the sides that come off the roof (I guess from dirt on the roof) after sitting all winter.

A good wash lightens the  water stains and I then use the Meguiars 67 One step compound. A light application takes off the water stains very easily.

I then put on a coat of the Flagship Professional Marine Wax. 

[jordanv]

On 9/28/2022 at 11:04 AM, dewdev said:

hbschof:

I wax over my decals.

I have a 2018 Elite II and I have never seen any oxidation (like I would see in my past older boats) on the fiberglass but in the spring there is some dark water stains on the sides that come off the roof (I guess from dirt on the roof) after sitting all winter.

A good wash lightens the  water stains and I then use the Meguiars 67 One step compound. A light application takes off the water stains very easily.

I then put on a coat of the Flagship Professional Marine Wax. 

When using the compound / polish / wax, are y’all using a motorized buffer for this? 

I’m trying to find a step by step process to do this. We’ve had our trailer for almost two years now and I’ve inly washed it once 🙀

Its also been outside in the sun 🙀🙀

After washing, it looked fairly shiny, but not nearly as shiny as day one. I guess there is a good bit of oxidation now. 

Also after washing, it didn’t take long for the “green” to appear again on top.

Im getting a friend to let me store it in their warehouse very soon, but before that I think I need to give it a good wash, polish, and wax. Just not sure or confident of the process.

[rideandfly]

We purchased the Shurhold 3100 Dual Action buffer from Amazon. Great for weekend warriors! 🙂 Learned about it from another forum member here.

Experimented on our vehicles first, before using it on our 2015 LE2 Ollie. Last Fall compounded and waxed the roof and nose of Ollie with great results. Before the next camping trip going to compound/wax the rest Ollie. Still had Meguiars 67 One Step compound and Meguiar's Flagship Marine wax on the shelf, used that with the Shurhold buffer & pads on Ollie. When we run out of Meguiar's Wax will start using Shurhold's wax. They have many videos on their website and on Youtube.

Plan to use wax for normal annual care for Ollie's finish.

https://shurhold.com/

https://youtu.be/rd9G8r4VQdk

https://shurhold.com/collections/buffers/products/worlds-best-dual-action-polisher

 

[CRM]

11 hours ago, jordanv said:

When using the compound / polish / wax, are y’all using a motorized buffer for this? 

I’m trying to find a step by step process to do this. We’ve had our trailer for almost two years now and I’ve inly washed it once 🙀

 

I use a Dewalt buffer (DWP849X) with a cutting wool pad for heavy/medium compounding and a wool polishing pad for light compounding and waxing.

For compounds and waxes I use the 3M "Prefect-it" system exclusively. After washing, if the finish is highly oxidized I'll start with wet sanding with 800-1000 grit paper, followed with their gelcoat heavy cutting compound, then light cutting compound + wax, and finish with the Perfect-it boat wax. If finish is not too oxidized I skip the wet sanding and heavy compound steps and start off with the light cutting compound + wax and finish with the boat wax.

[jordanv]

1 minute ago, CRM said:

I use a Dewalt buffer (DWP849X) with a cutting wool pad for heavy/medium compounding and a wool polishing pad for light compounding and waxing.

For compounds and waxes I use the 3M "Prefect-it" system exclusively. After washing, if the finish is highly oxidized I'll start with wet sanding with 800-1000 grit paper, followed with their gelcoat heavy cutting compound, then light cutting compound + wax, and finish with the Perfect-it boat wax. If finish is not too oxidized I skip the wet sanding and heavy compound steps and start off with the light cutting compound + wax and finish with the boat wax.

That sounds like more trouble than I am willing to get in! I plan to stay away from wet sanding.

I guess I was interested if anyone had any videos to recommend on how to wash, buff, and wax a fiberglass trailer.

[CRM]

23 minutes ago, jordanv said:

That sounds like more trouble than I am willing to get in! I plan to stay away from wet sanding.

I guess I was interested if anyone had any videos to recommend on how to wash, buff, and wax a fiberglass trailer.

 

The wet sanding step is only necessary when the surface is highly oxidized, and if it is, you're wasting your time if you skip this step.  On the bright side, once you put the work in and get your trailer's finish back it's much easier to keep it looking that way with frequent washings with a dedicated boat wash and light compounding/wax once or twice a year.

[topgun2]

Of course there is always a couple of other ways to approach this job.  Unfortunately, these steps usually involve money - you can pay someone to do the work for you.

This can range anywhere from restoration, to polishing, to polish and wax to ceramic coating.

Good luck!

Bill

[Frank C]

Just for reference, here’s the typical Oliver hull fiberglass & gel coat construction.  This is from a hole I cut for a modification.   The white gel coat layer is about 1/32” thick, MUCH thicker than an automotive clear coat/base coat paint over metal which are typically only a few thousands of an inch thick.  So it’s pretty safe to use cutting/buffing compounds and a motorized orbital polisher on the Oliver to buff out any light oxidation without risking going all the way through the gel coat layer.  

[Liana]

On 9/28/2022 at 9:04 AM, dewdev said:

put on a coat of the Flagship Professional Marine Wax. 

Do all y'all use a buffer?  I had a "detailer" tell me today that I shouldn't buff our trailer.  But I went back over it with the Meguiar's Marine and hand rubbed it because I don't have a buffer.   Even my meager hand rubbing job took a lot of the streaks off that he left behind as well as some scuff marks that he said he scrubbed and scrubbed.  But I feel like buffing would really help "seal" the wax onto the surface.  I'm not really strong enough to do that good of a job on it.

I can't complain about his work too much because for the time he put in, I feel it was inexpensive and it set the stage for me to then go along behind him and get the REAL wax on and clean up the streaks that his spray on wax left behind.  I just hate when I stand there and have to listen to stuff I'm being told that is flat out wrong.

Sorry, that kind of turned into a rant, didn't it?

[dewdev]

On 1/18/2023 at 5:07 PM, Liana said:

Do all y'all use a buffer?  I had a "detailer" tell me today that I shouldn't buff our trailer.  But I went back over it with the Meguiar's Marine and hand rubbed it because I don't have a buffer.   Even my meager hand rubbing job took a lot of the streaks off that he left behind as well as some scuff marks that he said he scrubbed and scrubbed.  But I feel like buffing would really help "seal" the wax onto the surface.  I'm not really strong enough to do that good of a job on it.

I can't complain about his work too much because for the time he put in, I feel it was inexpensive and it set the stage for me to then go along behind him and get the REAL wax on and clean up the streaks that his spray on wax left behind.  I just hate when I stand there and have to listen to stuff I'm being told that is flat out wrong.

Sorry, that kind of turned into a rant, didn't it?

I do not use a buffer, nor do I recommend it (in my opinion). I do not want to wear down the thickness of my gel coat. I think that professional detailers are more experienced in the safe use of a buffer.

I have owned 4 older fiberglass boats in the past and never used a buffer. (There have been other forum posts about the use of buffers and I think that a majority of the comments were from people that do not use a buffer.) On my past older boats, which had oxidation, I would use a fiberglass paste rubbing compound applied by hand with a lot of elbow grease and remove the compound by hand with a clean cloth. After removing the compound and clean the fiberglass, I would hand apply two coats of liquid wax, hand applied and hand removed. That process worked well.

On my 2018 Ollie (which is left outside 24-7-365), I have never seen any fiberglass oxidation. I keep the Ollie outside during the winter. In the spring I wash the Ollie very well (sometime twice) and remove any remaining black water stains with the Meguiars 67 One step (liquid) compound applying it by hand and let it film over and then wipe it off with a clean micro-cloth. [The liquid compound is a lot less aggressive on the fiberglass that paste compound.] I then apply the Meguiars Professional Marine Wax by hand, let it dry, remove it using a micro-cloth and then apply a second coat of wax. During the summer I wash the Ollie as needed and if not shinny (but it usually is), I will apply one coat of wax. When putting the Ollie away for winter, I use my spring procedure.

Over the years owning boats, I have used a number of different brands of compounds and waxes. Myself, I find that the Meguiars products are easy to install, easy to wipe off and holds up very well. Everyone will have their favorite products but after over 30 years of fiberglass maintenance, I like Meguiars the best (so far).