Restoring the clarity to your Isinglass

Dave S

Well-Known Member
TECHNICAL Contributor
Oct 3, 2006
6,014
Upstate South Carolina
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Boatless
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I recently went thru the work of polishing all my Isinglass on my camper canvas to restore it's clarity and thought I would share how I did that with anyone who might be interested. My boat is now six years old and the camper canvas typical goes on the boat in October and stays on until about April. (My boat stays in the water year round.) Although I have kept the Isinglass in good condition by cleaning it properly and protecting it with 303 Protectant it had gradually lost it's clarity over the years. I also realize that my method may not work as well as it did for me if your Isinglass is in real bad condition and/or yellowed.

I did the work at home and used the following - Meguiar's Plastic Polish, a Porter Cable orbital buffer with a white foam polishing pad, a microfiber polishing pad, cotton towels, and 303 Protectant. I set up a suitable flat table to work on and then padded it with towels to keep the Isinglass from being scratched. The Isinglass should be clean before you start. I layed a piece of the camper canvas on the table and went to work. The first thing I did was take my microfiber polishing pad and put some Meguiar's Plastic Polish on it. Then I went around the inside of the canvas and polished this all by hand. The reason you do this by hand is to keep the polish off the canvas itself and to keep the buffer away from it in the next step. Now using the PC buffer with plastic polish applied to the pad go over the entire piece of Isinglass in a back and forth motion several times. When you are finished, wipe the piece with a clean cotton towel. Turn the piece over and repeat the process on the reverse side. Now hold the piece up to the light (I was working in my garage and used the out side sunlight to look thru the Isinglass). If you see any areas requiring further polishing, then make sure you take care of them. If you have any scratches that did not come out you may want to tackle them by hand using the Microfiber polishing pad and the plastic polish. If you have severe scratches that won't come out (I didn't) then you may have to use a polishing compound first followed by the plastic polish. Once you are satisfied, then apply a coat of 303 Protectant to both sides using a cotton applicator and towel.

After I was done I had crystal clear Isinglass, the way it was when it was brand new.

Dave
 
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used it
Novus plastic window restorer works better
a 3 part kit is 15 bucks on Amazon for the big bottles
same process though

sorry to hijack
 
As Jim mentioned, there may be other brands of polish and protectant that work well so please let everyone know what your experiences were.
 
I did the samethis week end, did not take the glass down. I did the exterior with Meguiars and a power ball and used PLEXUS on the interior. Both products work well on the 5 year old material, the boat also sat for 4 years in S Carolina. Still have some scrtches to work on.
Recommend both products, got both online.

Tony
Crazy Lady
 
good to know about the novus polish... i have just ordered a pack as am currently trying to remove the salt etching on one panel and restore the rest.i may have to replace the one panel but as these covers are only a year or so old they have been badly maintained by the previous owner.
 
My upholster, that does all my canvas, clears etc..

Tells me, Mr Sheen..........its cheaper and better


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
I have scratches in my strataglass. Their website says to never use a polisher that is used for commercial grade vinyl. Does anyone have any experience with removing scratches from strataglass?

I tried Meguiar's plastic polish by hand and I still have some scratches. I'm thinking I need an orbital polisher. I was going to buy an orbital polisher and try Novus products at 800-1000 rpm being careful to not heat up the glass.
 
If it is Strataglass, there website says Imar products only.
 
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Once they get bad, usually the best product to return clarity is $$$replacement$$$.

I have never been able to get them looking right with any polish or product. And they get bad again quickly once the coating is polished off.
 

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