Compounds that clean-up

Despite the French-sounding name, Farécla is a British manufacturer with a worldwide reputation for its range of abrasive compounds for surface finishing and polishing.

Its products include the PROFILE Specialist Applications range, which can be used in multiple business sectors, including: marine, composites, automotive and wood. Perhaps less well known is the company’s G3 Pro range of detailing and surface finishing products, suitable for companies involved in the marine maintenance and refit sector.

The G3 Pro range was initially developed as a paint rectification solution for the car care market, most notably for its widely-used and award-winning scratch removal paste. The range has since been expanded with additional high-quality cleaners, compounds and sealants.

Someone with first-hand experience of the evolution in what Farécla has to offer the marine sector is George Elliot, owner of Ludham Bridge Boatyard in Norfolk. The boatyard offers specialist hull rework, refurbishment, painting, re-gel coating, anti-fouling and winter storage, servicing for more than 200 boats annually and has more than 15 years of experience using products from Farécla.

In its line of work, the boatyard commonly comes across bio-fouling, limescale, sun damage and oxidised surfaces. Before rectification work can begin in earnest using cutting compounds, cleaning plays a crucial role preparing surfaces.

“Many owners find cleaning boats too intimidating and as a result the pre-season clean can be time consuming and costly process for them,” Elliot explains. “Farécla’s products help streamline my cleaning and restoration process and offer great protection from bio-fouling and sun damage, making mid and post-season maintenance much easier.”

Initially when preparing boats for rectification work of the gelcoat, the boatyard uses Farécla’s Snow Foam to prepare the surface for restoration, lifting heavy grime and stubborn contaminants from the surface of the hull.

Now new product developments from the finishing specialist have helped speed up the surface restoration work. Elliott is among those in the marine sector trialling a new formula cutting compound due to join the PROFILE range that reduces the amount of sanding required when used with a wool pad and leaves an improved finish. The restored surface is then sealed with G3 Pro Surface Sealant and given two coats of PROFILE Polymer UV Wax for protection when in the water.

Furthermore, Farécla recently developed a maintenance process with the Cornish Shrimper’s owner association. One of the owners implementing the process commented that some parts of the hull of these classic style GRP yachts, which had been faded by sunlight and scuffed by fenders, looked like they did when the boat first came out of the mould in 1989 after using the company’s recommended process.

“G3 Pro complements our PROFILE offering perfectly; we’re delighted to hear from satisfied users, such as George and the Cornish Shrimper’s association about their experiences and appreciate their feedback,” comments Christine Foster, specialist applications business development manager for Farécla. “Thanks to our substantial investment into R&D and engineered abrasive technology the upcoming addition to the PROFILE range looks set to deliver significant time, cost and material savings for those in marine manufacturing and maintenance.”

The G3 Pro range also offers an easy-to-use selection of interior and exterior cleaning solutions for boat and vehicle owners, with some of the other products available such as Multicleaner for upholstery, Super Dressing for vinyl and the award-winning Spray Wax to top up the exterior protection throughout the busy boating season.

Farécla is also set to release process guides and videos for marine maintenance on its website in the coming months.

www.farecla.com