to wax or how to wax...that is the ?

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sydney

Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Posts
22
Standing next to the rv looking up at a huge white wall, with a can of wax and a sponge... is kindof daunting.  The Dealer's service dept man...gave us the are you kidding? glare when we told him we hadn't waxed it yet (after 9 months)...

Who waxes ? who pays for someone else to wax?  and how many times does it happen?
 
The only thing we have used to clean and polish our 40ft Eagle is DriWash N Guard Takes about 4 hours to do the whole MH and about 8 to 12 OZ of DWG.
 
Visit a large dealership closest to you, go to the service dept. There are always a couple of kids that would like to make an extra couple hundred bucks on the side.
 
Bugs!  A friend told me about a quick, inexpensive bug remover that works.  Imagine that!  Dryer sheets!  Take a clean dryer sheet and gently rub away the bug remains on your RV.  I have not found any adverse reaction to the sheets.  If you have heard of this or if you know of related problems to their use, please let us all know. 
 
3 weeks later and $200 poorer, the beastie is now waxed to perfection.  Lovely water beading when it rains and the detailing makes it look like its brandnew again.  It took them 8 hours
 
sydney said:
3 weeks later and $200 poorer .... It took them 8 hours

You had a deal. It costs $1,500-$2,000 to get my boat waxed, which is why I do it myself. Takes me roughly 3 weeks. OTOH I can wax the coach in a fraction of that time.

Which product did they use?
 
Tom - just trade that gel coat thing in for a proper aluminum boat and never worry about waxing it again.
 
Newt, that would be trading one kind of oxidation for another.
 
Newt said:
Tom - just trade that gel coat thing in for a proper aluminum boat and never worry about waxing it again.

Aluminum and salt water do not go well together. Makes for way too much maintenance jut to control the oxidation
 
Ah yes.  Basically an inland guy here and I forget that CA has all that nasty salty stuff to deal with.  I get into salt water on rare occasions but easy enough to just give her a good wash down.

My problem is the places I like to fish.  Rocks and stumps and other nasties that would do horrible things to a gel coat finish.  I'm moving slow in the bad stuff but do scrape now and again and like to run the boat aground on the bank sometimes to provide a really stable fishing platform for carping and some catfishing.

Aluminum with rivets was a problem but the welded hulls hold up really well to lots of abuse.
 
Newt said:
Aluminum with rivets was a problem but the welded hulls hold up really well to lots of abuse.

Yep, my Tracker has the Revolution (all-welded) hull, but it wouldn't do well in 15-20 foot seas  ;)
 
Tom.  We had a boat detailing *company* do it.  We had the option of providing the wax or them using their own, we let them use their own.  I don't know what it was but I can find out. It was a young couple and they both worked for 8 hours ... Central Florida rates  ;D compared to California must be the difference.
 
Sydney,

Most boat detailers do a good job. However, on the rare occasions I've had them wax my boat, I've insisted they use carnuba wax or one that has a lot of carnuba in it. Our experience has shown that anything else does a poor job of protecting gel coat from the punishing effects of the sun. Probably the worst I've seen is a liquid teflon product which one company insisted on using; It was good for maybe a month.

FWIW a 3-man crew working from 6.00am until dusk with no slacking took 3 days to wax the old tub (that's 9 long man days) with a good carnuba paste wax. I can't work that hard for that long, especially in the sun, so it takes me pretty close to 21 days. But my bank account doesn't suffer as much.

OTOH I don't use carnuba wax on our coach with full body paint.
 
Tom, they used a 3M liquid boat wax ...I'll have to find out which one to see about the carnuba. 
 
Sydney,

3M sells a couple of liquid product products (available at Wal*Mart) that contain different grits of rubbing compound with some carnuba wax. Much easier/quicker to apply than a heavy paste wax, but I don't know how much protection they provide or for how long. I use them to remove any oxidation from gel coat and follow up with carnuba paste.
 
Tom said:
3M sells a couple of liquid product products (available at Wal*Mart) that contain different grits of rubbing compound with some carnuba wax. Much easier/quicker to apply than a heavy paste wax, but I don't know how much protection they provide or for how long. I use them to remove any oxidation from gel coat and follow up with carnuba paste.

I was under the impression a special "gel coat" product was needed for such motorhome finishes.  In another thread I asked about using a automotive cleaner wax product on my motorhome's surfaces, and the response was that it wouldn't do much.  DWG is unfortunately out of my price range, so I need to find something in the retail realm that will remove oxidation and protect the finish.  Is carnuba the secret ingredient?  How much would be needed for a rig the size of mine?
 
Scotty,

Gel coat is the shiny/slippery surface on fiberglass and it's applied in the mold when the motorhome or boat is manufactured. However, older motorhomes may not have had gel coat, but the stuff I mentioned (and mention below) will still work. You don't "add gel coat".

Carnuba wax is about as good as you can use to protect gel coat. The 3M products I mentioned contain carnuba wax, but they also contain some grit to remove any oxidation (fiberglass/gel coat will oxidize over time, especially in the sun). So it does 2 things at the same time - the grit removes the oxidation and the carnuba protects it.

When I wax my boat I use a heavy paste wax that has carnuba but no grit. So, if my gel coat is oxidized, I'm using a 2-step process. The carnuba paste wax I use is called Trewax and is available at marine stores such as West Marine Products, but it's unlikely you'll need it for a motorhome.

Marine stores also sell the 3M liquid stuff, but it's much cheaper at Wal*Mart. The 3M stuff comes in different grits, depending on how heavily oxidized the surface is. I'm not sure how much you'll need for your motorhome, but I'd buy a couple of bottles and, if you need more, you can buy it. If you use less, what's left over will be usable next time.
 
Thanks Tom, that clears things up for me.  You can see an example of the kind of oxidation I have by clicking on my signature link to the profile photo of my rig.  The difference in color tone can be seen on the 2 basement storage compartment doors behind the rear wheel.  The front-most of those two is oxidized I assume, appearing much lighter in color (kind of dull/cloudy) compared to the other.  That condition is present around different areas of the coach, most visible on the darker (green) areas and no so much on the lighter (beige) areas.
 
Scotty,

Are you sure the bins have gel coat, not painted? If so, it's not clear why one door would be oxidized and the others not, unless someone gave that door different treatment from the others (unlikely). However, it is possible for color differences in gel coat from different mixes e.g. if someone replaced a door at some time. Not only would the new door not be oxidized, it could well be a slightly different color. If this is the case, buffing (aka rubbing with the 3M/grit stuff) is unlikely to make it the same color as the others. But you have nothing to lose except sweat and effort by trying.

Just one caveat - gel coat is relatively thin, so go easy if you're using the heavy grit. If you rub/buff all the way through, the result won't be pretty.

If the doors are painted, forget most of what I've been saying. I use liquid Turtle Wax on painted surfaces such as our full body painted coach.
 
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