Refurbish dull paddle

Can I restore this? A friend left it outdoors in sun and rain, facing up, for a week and it left water marks and dulled the blades considerably. Can I get the shine back? Thanks

Here is the picture, sorry.

So far, I’ve gotten “spray WD40 on it” and “use a heat gun on it”. I’m not sold on trying either, but that’s all I’ve got. Any experience with these 2 methods? Surely someone in this great forum knows a trick or two to restore shine to cloudy laminate…

I've never done this, so I'm going by internet searches.

The cloudiness is probably from oxidation, which happens when the gelcoat is exposed to UV and air.

The main method for tackling it seem to be to cut back with fine abrasive, then polish, using a wax or car body polish.

I would try polishing compound on a buffing pad. A small circular pad on a drill might fit well in the concavity.

Very good, thank you for the help. I will try those suggestions. Seems more logical than WD40 or heat gun.

I just this to my paddle to make it look like new
Wet Sand the surface with 180 grit 240 grit (even 400) until you are down to the carbon. Clean with acetone and spray paint with gloss/ matt clear finish from your local hardwsre store. Takes 10-15 minutes.
You can even go to a car pant store and get a two component clear top coat spray paint can for better quality but no real need
It will look like new.

Personally I would not sand back to carbon, and if damage exposed the carbon, I would use gelcoat (or epoxy for small bits) to cover.

Moisture penetration into the carbon is a real risk, and in cold areas will quickly destroy your paddle.

You will be just fine to water paper the surface, even if you hit the carbon. They are epoxy paddle so gelcoat will not stick. Sand to very fine finish and polish will give a decent finish.

There is no coating on most clear carbon paddles, hence the degradation of the surface due to UV. The one person said to sand and paint, yes that is a good option however a standard rattle can job will look good for a short time unless you use polyurethane based paint, it does come in aerosol can, wood working finish spray, or better a 2K clear paint.

Hi,

before you go all inn with sandpaper or worse, have you tried to clean it up with some strong limescale remover? Form the picture it looks like it is only some residue from dried up water inside.

Thanks for the ideas. I will try limescale remover first.

Did the limescale remover work/how did you fix it eventually?