How to Make That Old RV Fiberglass Shine Like New
Four years ago I bought an old 1993 fiber glass sheathed class C RV. It seemed no matter how hard I try to clean it and wax it I could never make it actually shine. The siding was simply to weathered to glow. It also seemed nearly impossible to remove all of the blemishes and previous owner glues and rain stains until one day while cleaning the shower with soft scrub it dawned on me. "Why not try this?".
I squirted in a blob on a wet rag and carefully applied it to the RV skin then rubbed it in firmly then rinsed my test area with water and then lo and behold there it was; a completely clean surface. Even the tiny specs of dirt wedged inside the tiny small micro pits was washed away. I proceeded to do the entire camper and after a half days work, the surface was completely clean.
My next task was marine wax. However, the results were not as promising. I tried two coats to my test area and still, it barely shined and wasn't really worth the effort to do the rest of the coach. A few days later I was applying concrete sealer to the back porch patio patio. While retrieving a few rollers from my garage, I accidentally brushed the one in my hand against the side of the coach and immediately noticed a glowing shine. I decided to let dry and shine did not fade.
The next day I used an other roller over a one foot test area and then realized this was not going to work. The roller left behind small bubbles that dried in place. I was determined to make this work. Off to Home Depot I went and purchased a few hand brushes. One was a cheap Nylon type, the other was a high quality natural fiber purdy brush, cost about 15 bucks. The inexpensive brush left some brush trails line but still, was big improvement over the roller. The Purdy brush however was near perfect. I continued to experiment and found the less sealer added to the brush, the better. Using rapid feathering technique, I was able to completely eliminate all trialling lines. The stuff made the old fiberglass look like it was brand new. That was 4 years ago and to this day, the sealer has not chipped peeled or faded one bit.
I squirted in a blob on a wet rag and carefully applied it to the RV skin then rubbed it in firmly then rinsed my test area with water and then lo and behold there it was; a completely clean surface. Even the tiny specs of dirt wedged inside the tiny small micro pits was washed away. I proceeded to do the entire camper and after a half days work, the surface was completely clean.
My next task was marine wax. However, the results were not as promising. I tried two coats to my test area and still, it barely shined and wasn't really worth the effort to do the rest of the coach. A few days later I was applying concrete sealer to the back porch patio patio. While retrieving a few rollers from my garage, I accidentally brushed the one in my hand against the side of the coach and immediately noticed a glowing shine. I decided to let dry and shine did not fade.
The next day I used an other roller over a one foot test area and then realized this was not going to work. The roller left behind small bubbles that dried in place. I was determined to make this work. Off to Home Depot I went and purchased a few hand brushes. One was a cheap Nylon type, the other was a high quality natural fiber purdy brush, cost about 15 bucks. The inexpensive brush left some brush trails line but still, was big improvement over the roller. The Purdy brush however was near perfect. I continued to experiment and found the less sealer added to the brush, the better. Using rapid feathering technique, I was able to completely eliminate all trialling lines. The stuff made the old fiberglass look like it was brand new. That was 4 years ago and to this day, the sealer has not chipped peeled or faded one bit.
