Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

ricohman

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Jul 30, 2011
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I have some serious hard water stains on the fiberglass tub surrounds in my house.
My wife cleaned them years ago with an abrasive pad (even though the label on the tub said not to) so I'd like to polish the gel coat out, if possible. She didn't clean the entire tubs with her scratchy pad so there nice areas that still shine.
I'm not looking for a miracle but some fiberglass boat owners seem to know what cleans up a hull and my tubs are in better shape than most hulls.
I don't think anything in cleaning isle of the grocery store can touch this. And I do have soft water now.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

pull out the buffer and go at it with polishing compound, just like a hull
 

ricohman

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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

A buffer?
I never thought of that. I have many angle grinders of various sizers but I don't think they are slow enough.
If I buy a buffer and some polish. Would I need an aggressive compound to smooth out the fine scratches?
 

Scott Danforth

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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

hit harbor freight for their variable speed polisher. is about $50. then use Meguiars hull cleaner. its not that aggressive, and it doesnt take much to clean up the shower
 

foodfisher

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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

Agreed, HF has a buffing setup w/2 grads of polisher. Got it and took all the blur/scratches off my cell phone screen. +-5$
 

FunInDuhSun

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Apr 25, 2010
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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

pull out the buffer and go at it with polishing compound, just like a hull
Yup. I polished my shower about 3 years ago. Came out as good as new, and now is much easier to keep clean.
It took me 2 days for prep, then another day to apply/ buff 3 coats of wax. I used the 3M Perfect-It system.
Flats were pretty easy but be careful not to burn the corners.
 

dingbat

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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

Once you get it back use Mary Kate non-skid deck cleaner to keep it clean. We used that product for 20 years to clean our showers and they still look like new.
 

ricohman

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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

Thanks for the tips. I am going to give this a go!
 

oops!

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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

richo....the hard water stains are calciium build up....

take industrial stregnth toilet bowl cleaner to it......on your boat, this is called an acid wash....(dont use the house hold stuff....use the stuff from a janitor supply shop.)

wear your gloves.....spray or use a wet cloth to put it on wait a few seconds....and turn on the shower......the build up will be gone !

then use your buffer and a compound polish......then a marine wax......

it will gleam like a brand new tub !
 

ricohman

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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

richo....the hard water stains are calciium build up....

take industrial stregnth toilet bowl cleaner to it......on your boat, this is called an acid wash....(dont use the house hold stuff....use the stuff from a janitor supply shop.)

wear your gloves.....spray or use a wet cloth to put it on wait a few seconds....and turn on the shower......the build up will be gone !

then use your buffer and a compound polish......then a marine wax......

it will gleam like a brand new tub !

Thanks for the tip. I will use this before the buffing begins!
 

dockwrecker

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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

Not one of the orbital buffers, a rotary 9" polisher. Orbitals won't cut the scratches. Lots of guys around here swear by the Harbor Freight rotary polisher for about $50, (I just may try one of them) but I can say from experience that putting a 9" polish wheel on a $70 Makita angle grinder will set it on fire in about 5 minutes. It was still somewhat on fire when I returned it to Home Depot...won't do that one again.
 

Tim Frank

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Re: Cleaning fiberglass tub surround with marine products?

Just make sure it is F/Glass and not acrylic.
The respective restorative measures are not compatible.
 
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