What to use or do?

I was just commenting to my wife about how there are so many similarities between the sailboat forums I frequent and the trailer forums. Electrical systems, etc..

There's a product that's popular with boaters for dealing with chalked, faded fiberglass. Suggest you look into Poliglow. There will be plenty of info available, including a lot of Youtube videos.

The best way to deal with the fading is to do PROPER compounding and polishing followed by the sealer/wax of your choice.

Poliglow is a step saving process that is a substitute for compounding. Basically, you use their prep products and then wipe on several coats of their product. Results are quite good, and it can last several years, particularly in northern climates. See what you think.

check out the product called zep on youtube. i think it might help you at a descent price.

beemerphile1 wrote:
Park it the other way so both sides fade equally. :B Red is the absolute worst color for fading.

BIL painted his house a medium red shade. Faded badly within a few years.

Whether you're going to paint it or not, you'll want to remove as much oxidation as possible. If there is enough colorant left in the fiberglass or gelcoat skin, an anti-oxidant will bring it back to new, no excessive buffing is needed.

I like to use phosphoric acid based products. Water softener liquid cleaner is a cheap source. Body shops that sell Martin-Senour products sell a series of etchant cleaners/deoxidizers (used to be Iron Etch I, II, and III). The latter two contained surfactants to clean the surface. If you have Dawn, it will suffice. The etchants are sprayed onto the surface and either brushed or left to sit on the surface until oxidation is removed. I'd suggest to brush lightly with a soft brush on the first coat. Reapply a second coat and immediately rinse. The oxidized color should run off onto the ground with your applications and rinse. When dry, follow with a polish and then wax with a marine wax. Done right, the above may get you back to "new". Good luck.

Thank you for that info neschultz I will check it out.

Park it the other way so both sides fade equally. :B Red is the absolute worst color for fading.

Any trailer that has a dark color like that, especially dark blue or red, should be painted and clear coated. There just is no excuse these days since the coatings we have will last for many years with little or no maintenance. And the cost would be less than $200 per trailer. They just don't want to add the time for a base/clear job.

Ooops, here’s the rest of that post that shows the before and after of his trial spot.

kennyd63. Wayne on the Winnebago Minnie Facebook page has just gone through this with his red Winnebago. His results are impressive. Here’s a pix of one of his posts showing the results that includes the products he used. Join the group and search for his posts to see the others. Good luck.

I wanted a colored Winnie but too many friends said “no.” I’m happy in white.