stripping paint to bare aluminum

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randyo3629

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peru, indiana
ive been thinking about stripping my tin boat of its side paint and leaving bare polished aluminum(the hull bottom is unpainted).

what maintenance am i looking at to keep it nice and shiny?
it will used in freshwater only.
 
My Klamath is not painted. I occasionally wash the worst of the gunk off. It is not shiny at all. I'm working on giving it that old tin boat patina, including some fish guts to add authenticity. :D

I don't have an answer for you but recall a post or a link some time ago to videos of a guy that polished his aluminum boat (or maybe it was a canoe) to an amazing shine. I don't know how much work it would be to keep it that way. There are a lot of great looking boats here and I'll be surprised if you don't get some real good responses.
 
Making aluminum "shiny" is probably more work than you want to do. Cotton wheels and rouge and endless hours of work. What I've found is that when I've tried, it never comes out as good as I was hoping. Every blemish, dent and scar shows up like a neon light.

What I've found is that a brushed finish is more than good enough to make a boat look great.. and it's very easy to maintain. It hides blemishes.... doesn't blind you when the sun is overhead... and is simply much easier to accomplish...

Get the paint stripped off with a chemical stripper and then just go over it with one of these wheels... you'll be surprised how easily it makes tired aluminum look good...

https://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=31821656
 
randyo3629 said:
what maintenance am i looking at to keep it nice and shiny?
You'll need LOTS of that 'special grease', that is always in demand ... and yet always short on supply. They call it ... let's see, wait for it, wait for it ... Elbow Grease :LOL2: !
 
Let's see.....fishing in the hot summer sun, in a polished aluminum boat.
You'll want a large supply of sunscreen, and you'll need to put it in places that aren't normally exposed to sun, and I think the sunglasses you'd need won't allow you to see anything but the sun. (Think welding helmet darkness.)
I suggest you follow Shaugh's recommendations.

Roger
 
Polished looks awesome on a vintage show boat. It’s not hard to get it shiny but if you want it to look good, you have to work out every dent and ding, gouge and scratch.
When I stripped and painted my boat, I cleaned the unpainted bottom with scotchbrite pads and a vinegar solution. Straight back and forth leaves a nice brushed look.


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Polished aluminum is very hard to get to. Keeping it polished is probably even harder. I would expect 15-20 hours of polishing for every hour of fishing. Polished aluminum will show every dent, scratch and blemish in the area. Brushed aluminum is much easier to deal with. If you really want polished aluminum, Mothers makes a very good product called Mag & Aluminum Polish. The problem is that when you polish one area the area you didn't polish will look awful so you have to polish the whole boat every time.
 
polish it with rouge and then coat it with ceramic nano coating.nothing will stick to it and it will clean easily with soap and water,but it is really expensive,but it will last a really long time.the stuff is amazing.i've applied it to my truck,my 2 sets of rims,and will be applying it to my new boat.
 
Take a look at Sharkhide.

Here is a link https://www.sharkhide.com/mpinfo.html

Those above that tell you that it is a lot of work are correct, but here is a product to protect your work.

Good Luck :D
 

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