aluminum boat polishing question

[cwcad]

A friend of mine has an aluminum boat. It has been well taken care of over the years. Stored properly thru the winter. Washed regularly in the spring and every time that it is taken out of the water. Yet, the rigors of its service for my friends boating pleasure, leave the aluminum rather dingy.

I do not have any marine products available but I do have the whole line of Poorboy's products in my arsenal. My question is twofold to anyone....Do you think that Propolish with PC would be a good product to use on the aluminum unpainted surafce to try and clean the aluminum after years of very dirty Alaska rivers? Or would this be a effort in futility? Lastly, Would EX, if applied hold up on unpainted aluminum?

 

[Brenton]

Is it totally unpainted?
HF acid is typically designed for aluminum boats & trailers first. It's amazing what it can do, but glove-glass up.

 

[Poorboy]

Kirk there are a few approaches...you can use APC full strength first to work into the aluminum ..let it dwell a while (keeping it damp) and then give a good scrub or power rinse. You can use SSR2.5 to work out any heavy oxidation try a polishing pad first before using a cutting pad which might leave marks, then finish with the Professional Polish ....If you were to try and seal it, then I'd use EX-P , followed by Wheel Sealant or just Wheel Sealant ....

one other interesting thought (haven't tried it myself) but you might also try Wheel Sealant on the PC as it does have some minor cleaning ability

 

[cwcad]

PEI

The friend is not interested in purchasing any product for his boat so acid will not be happening. Since I have a bunch of Poorboy products I thouhgt I would inquire about using any of those products.

Steve,

I will give that a shot. Since I watch almost all the weekend races at this guys house we will have a few hours to experiment. He is such a good friend I am willing to put a lot of time into this little endeavor.

Thanks for the information!!

 

[mgm2003]

cw -You're polishing dam* near everything you can get your hands on up there. Cars, Trucks, 4-wheelers, boats, etc....

I thought I needed help (LOL).

 

[Brenton]

Steve, would the same process work on a clear coated aluminum slip stream trailer with oxidization?

 

[joshcaro]

I dont know how much this will help anyone, but I finally tackeled my Polished Aluminum wheels with no clear coat today after months of putting them off. I didnt think I could get them to shine nearly as much as I got them to today. When I first bought the wheels a few months ago, they were extremely hazy looking with little dots everywhere. Definitely something was wrong, I just didnt know what. I tried many products by hand and even used a PC but nothing made them budge. So here was my plan of attack today that gave me 100% success.

There is a 4 inch polishing wheel that they sell at Lowes for just under 5 bucks I believe (they also made an 8 inch one I believe) but for my wheels I needed the smaller one.

I bought a connecter that was the same brand of the pad to connect to my electric drill.

I simply rubbed the polish slightly on the wheels and went at it with the drill. It took about 15 minutes per wheel to get them where I wanted them.

I wish I had pics to show the difference, but there is a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR improvement. They honestly look like chrome now.

I had posts many threads here and there and tried tons of tons of approaches and could not get it to budge ONE BIT!

Hopefully this will help someone on the process to use to achieve success on their aluminum.

 

[Poorboy]

Steve, would the same process work on a clear coated aluminum slip stream trailer with oxidization?

a clearcoated trailer would not oxidize the same as an uncoated one, but yes the same process would be applied to a trailer.

the key to repairing aluminum is speed, heat, & friction ...as stated above the speed of a drill or rotary will make the results occur faster and easier than a pc or hand.

 

[cwcad]

cw -You're polishing dam* near everything you can get your hands on up there. Cars, Trucks, 4-wheelers, boats, etc....

I thought I needed help (LOL).

I know...I know!!!

A car, truck, 4-wheeler and boat are all owned by the same guy. He is close to a thirty year friend and also is a union brother who would pick me up in a snow storm when it is thirty below at one o'clock in the morning. Some thing's cannot be repaid....if you know what I mean.