After thirteen years outdoors, our RV’s fiberglass outer skin was looking a little bit faded when we purchased it. This comes as no surprise. Unfortunately, a good RV paint job will easily run five figures, and we’re not about to deface the rig by doing a rattle-can and housepaint job on it (not that backyard paint jobs aren’t cool, but many RV parks won’t allow you in if you look too much like a hippie bus).

Fortunately, there are products that promise to renew the luster of old fiberglass. PoliGlow and NewGlass2 are the first names that come up when doing a search online. Both products started as primarily nautical products, used to refinish the hulls of boats, but RV and boat fiberglass aren’t all that different so the market is starting to cross over.

Though representatives of both companies insist that their formulas are completely different, PoliGlow and NewGlass2 work similarly. Both products are applied like a household varnish, returning a “wet-look” shine to the exterior fiberglass. As it ages, fiberglass oxidizes and loses its gloss. After a thorough cleaning, PoliGlow and NewGlass2 promise to restore this gloss, with a shine that is easily renewed and will last for up to twelve months in most circumstances. Think of it as varnish for your RV, and you won’t be too far off the mark.

To test the restorative properties of each product, we did one side of the Incorrigible with PoliGlow and the other with NewGlass2. Both products were applied on the same weekend, with partly cloudy skies and seventy-degree temperatures.

The process is nearly identical for both products, and took much less time than I expected. The basic ingredient is elbow grease; first, the exterior of the RV must be cleaned with an aggressive cleanser (PoliPrep for PoliGlow, and Pre Treat for NewGlass2) and allowed to dry. Then, the “varnish” is applied with a sponge pad (also provided) in several successive coats. The first coat of the restorative smoothes over the oxidization in the fiberglass, and the subsequent coats restore the shine to the finish. Each coat dries quickly, so four or five coats can be applied in an hour. Working in sections, I found that NewGlass2 got the faded surface of the Incorrigible shining nicely after five or six coats. The slightly more viscous PoliGlow worked faster, bringing back the shine after three or four. PoliGlow also resulted in a smoother finish, though from five feet away the shine on both sides is identical.