Thought I'd have a go at fettling the Topper sailing boat I bought a couple of years ago, which has been languishing at the top of the garden, exposed to all the elements and hasn't been used yet, as kayaking opportunities took precedence. I'm determined to get some use from it this year.
Rather than just launch into it, I thought I'd check YouTube for some advice. The advice given was to rub the topsides down with white spirit and then apply a heat gun to rejuvenate the plastic. The effect was magical.
I used my butane heat gun, wafting it over the plastic to slightly melt it, which brought the condition back to nearly new. Apparently I've been storing it incorrectly and is should be stored with the hull uppermost.
The hull requires sanding with increasingly finer grades of wet and dry paper, a bit like the polycarbonate roof of Hay's Smart Car. The hull isn't too bad.
I was so impressed with the result of the application of the heat gun that I tried the process on some areas of a badly sun-damaged, plastic garden chair.
Not as good, it being a different type of plastic (PET), but good enough.
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