My little sister has joined the Casita owners group

[Jack Walter]

After seeing a parade of small fiberglass trailers pass through my hands my little sister has jumped in. She had an Aliner and then a big Winnebago trailer before and needed something smaller for the three of them for spur of the moment camping trips like they enjoyed with the Aliner. I suggested they look for a 17' Casita - she went and looked at a couple then drove into Knoxville on Friday and scored a nice one that the previous owner did a lot of interior upgrades to. She's thrilled and excited to have a camper again.

It's real chalky looking and needs a good polish and wax - other than that it's in great shape. I've read that Meguiars Marine Wax is recommended by a lot of Casita owners. How about polishing? Is there a good polishing compound that can be applied by an orbital buffer with a lambswool pad?

[Glenn Baglo]

3M makes several cleaner / waxes, some more aggressive than others.

[CindyL]

We used Barkeeper's Friend with a Magic Eraser followed by 5 coats of Polyglow when we bought the Silver Cloud and it was chalky.

[AstroPaul]

Originally Posted by Jack Walter

It's real chalky looking and needs a good polish and wax - other than that it's in great shape. I've read that Meguiars Marine Wax is recommended by a lot of Casita owners. How about polishing? Is there a good polishing compound that can be applied by an orbital buffer with a lambswool pad?

You'll get some differing opinions on how to fix, but I think we'll all agree that the gelcoat on your sisters trailer is badly oxidized. Not the worst I have have seen but it will need a fair amount of work to restore. But, it can - absolutely - be done.

To do properly, it will be a 3 step process that will require the use of a mechanical buffer and wool pad on two of the steps. Here is exactly what you need:

Step 1 Meguire's M91 Power Cut Compound - Applied by Mechanical Buffer

Step 2. Meguire's M67 One-Step Compound - Applied by Mechanical Buffer

Step 3. Meguire's M63 Flagship Ultimate Marine Wax - applied by hand then buffed off with a micro fiber towel.

You will see the biggest improvement during step 2. Also, this will be a multi-day effort. But it will pay off in a shiny, new looking camper.

Regarding the mechanical buffer... It needs to be the rotary type using a 7" or 9 inch wool pad to cut through the oxidation. Either the Makita 9237CX3 or, if you favorite color is yellow the Dewalt DWP849X is fine, too. I have the Makita which has been the standard for boats for a long time.

The reasons I recommend and use Meguiar's products are: (1) Widely available; (2) Reasonable cost; (3) Its a system with nearly foolproof complimentary products. Follow the directions, and it WILL work. (4) Its worked for me, personally; (5) If you get into trouble its a well supported product line.

Alternatively - 3M has a competing line of polishes - The "Perfect It" system. The 3M products are mostly used in boat yards wile Meguiar's are focused on automotive and RV segments. As a point of note, as of 2008 3M owns Meguiar's.

One thing to be clear, products marketed for RV and Boat gelcoat tend to have more cutting power then those targeted at the automotive segment. Fiberglass gelcoat is orders of magnitude thicker then automotive clear coat and needs more cutting to achieve the desired results.

Have your sister follow the 3 steps above and it will vastly improve the surface of her Casita.

I would never put Polyglow or any type of floor wax on a fiberglass gelcoat. It will start to flake off within a couple of years and you'll have to remove it all and start over. Use products meant for exterior gelcoat protection not one that is meant for interior flooring.