Quote: Pop540 wrote in post #15

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...be careful if using on cross bars for fibre glass roof, silicone is an enemy..
many thanks for posting this warning
P

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Hello P.

Let me say at the outset that I'm not trying to be difficult; rather that I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this.

Can I ask you where you got the information about silicone being detrimental to fibreglass gelcoat?

I've had several goes over the months at trying to find something definitive about this but to no avail.

One of the recurring themes resulting from rootling about on the 'net is that silicone is a very common ingredient in polishes, many of which are routinely used on gelcoat and particularly in the context of boat hulls and superstructures. Autoglym Super Resin Polish (SRP) is one such example, and to the best of my knowledge there is no advice not to use it on gelcoat.

I did find things suggesting that it would be unwise to use anything containing silicone on uncured gelcoat, but common sense says that you wouldn't use anything at all on uncured gelcoat in any case.

It seems that the one common effect of using silicone on gelcoat is that it makes subsequent refinishing work very difficult, as anyone who has tried to overpaint silicone or paint where it has been and removed will have discovered to their cost. That's not really detrimental, it's just a huge pain in the arse.

I can't help feeling that if silicone was detrimental to gelcoat its use as a sealant on fibreglass shower trays would be discouraged, and I've never found that to be the case.

Yours

Me


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