Aluminum Boat Restoration

[papajoe222]

The hull of my ten year old Tracker is really looking nasty. Dull, discolored and a stained waterline are the culprits. So I've decided to do something about it. I know it's a little late to start thinking about it, but this is my first unpainted aluminum boat and I figure that once I get it restored keeping it looking good shouldn't be too difficult.

I've tried a couple of metal polishes with little or know improvements and last week I remembered having the tanks on my truck polished. The guy used a rotary polisher with a cotton fiber buffing wheel and polishing compound and when he was done they looked more like chrome than aluminum.

So my big project for the up coming off season is to use that system on my boat's hull. I own an old rotary polisher and arbors and have seen the buffing wheels and compound for sale on eBay. I know it will be a big time consuming project. Has anyone attempted this on their boat?

[Wayne P.]

Do a web search for Sharkhide. It may be easier than what you are contemplating.

[papajoe222]

Do a web search for Sharkhide. It may be easier that what you are contemplating.

One of my neighbors used tried applying their aluminum polish by hand and the end result was not worth the time and effort he put into it. He may still have some of it and if so, I'll try it with my variable speed polisher. It would be a lot easier and time consuming than what I'm thinking of.

[slonezp]

One of my neighbors used tried applying their aluminum polish by hand and the end result was not worth the time and effort he put into it. He may still have some of it and if so, I'll try it with my variable speed polisher. It would be a lot easier and time consuming than what I'm thinking of.

Sharkhide sells a spray on rinse off chemical that will remove the ugly from the hull

 

[mudkart]

For unpainted hulls, the only thing I found to work was to use a good orbital buffer (I had a Makita) with an aluminum polish (I used Mother's).  Trying to do this by hand on an area any larger than 5" X 5" is a waste of time, IMO.

The oxidation you remove will be colored black/dark grey and this in turn must be removed from the hull before applying Sharkhide otherwise you are, again, wasting your time. The Sharkhide solvents will dissolve and seal this black stuff onto your hull.  Sharkhide recommends lacquer thinner (I think); use whatever is listed on their site, it worked for me.  Wear latex gloves.  It took me several cycles of polishing/removing oxidation to achieve what I considered a finish worth applying Sharkhide to.  It was a lot of work and I do not think I will ever do it again.  I probably will not if the Sharkhide works as advertised.

[Texas Pride]

I have a boat that i was trying to replace the board in the back that the engin attaches to and as i was unscrewing the screws they broke off and i dont know how to get them out anyone got any ideas