Gelcoat cap polishing question

[Aceallenk]

The all-brown gel coat cap on our new-to-us, 2011/ST25RB is badly chalked/faded and my guess is it has never seen wax since first seeing sunlight Jan/2011. So I ask, what some of you others would consider. I was thinking of purchasing a 7 inch variable speed rotary grinder with a couple extra pure wool buffer pad. Here in Canada at Canadian Tire they stock Meguiars mirror glaze 50 cleaner/wax ( Meguiar's Cleaner Wax | Canadian Tire )so I wonder if that would pull the shine back on to the cap with several buffs, or would something more aggressive like a 3M Marine rubbing compound ( 3M Marine Rubbing Compound | Canadian Tire ) be required previous, or just plan old persistence with the Meguiars product. I suspect that several passes with the Meguiars would eventually maybe work, but would also like to hit the whole trailer also with it. The other 3 sides of the trailer are not an eyesoar so maybe just a wax would be better, but thought this Mcguiars would clean and wax at the same time. I took a picture, its slightly rained so the bright rain lines in pic show how badly the gelcoat is faded, basically 7 full years

[Aceallenk]

Sorry, forgot to up-load the pic for my post, hope this helps,

[harley]

Common problem acrosss all brands, skip the waste of time polishing and head to a body shop and cough up to have it painted just like a car. Mine was painted and looks great 4 yrs later with a quick coat of easy on/off polymer yearly.

[mark5w]

If you decide to polish, plan on making it an annual affair. One one permanent solution, like harley said. This product may be worth a shot, but not sure how long it will last: http://www.vivilon.com/product_list.html

[Wildasindrive]

Be very careful when finishing gel coat. It is a very thin layer of thermoset polymers put into the mold prior to layup of the fiberglass.
If you decide to polish it, use a very delicate abrasive such as a 3m product for polishing and keep your buffer at low (low) speed and do not stay in one area long. You will burn through the gel quickly.
What you are seeing is an oxidation of the coating that is very thin. Removing it will take time and patience. You may never get the look you are trying to achieve because of streaking or swirling.
Painting over it is the way to go.