Cleaning Your Toons

G

Geewest

Guest
Seeing how winter is just around the corner and many people pulling boats out for the winter the subject of cleaning your pontoons seems in order. I know they have "kits" that you can order online. Just wondering why everyone is using?
 
I'm planning on doing mine this coming weekend or the weekend after that, plan on just blasting them with a power washer, not too worried about stains or shine, just want the marine growth off for the winter.

Cheers

Brian

2012 24SSLX w/yamaha 150
 
This will be the second year we have had our toon, and another chance for me to brag on the Sharkhide i put on before it ever touched the water. :p

So once again, i don't have to do anything but wipe them down :lol:
 
My new Bennington was May, 2012 production, and it was kept inside a dark warehouse before I purchased it the first week of July. The toons were already tarnishing when I bought it.

I'll be using aluminum polish followed by a rag rubdown with lacquer cleaner to restore the shine. The shine will then be maintained with Sharkhide.

Older boats or boats that have been left in the water are best cleaned with a pressure washer first. Then, an acid based cleaner applied for a few moments--removed with a strong water stream. Getting rid of the dull finish will require polishing. Aluminum cleaners are available at boat dealerships, heavy truck dealerships and online. Many speak highly of NAPA's Aluminum Cleaner, and some even use central air conditioner coil cleaner.
 
I towel off the toons after every use so over the years they have stayed pretty clean. I have had it acid washed by our marina staff once and they did a good thorough job. This is the 3rd season since I applied the Sharkhide and it's starting to show wear or have rubbed off in some areas. I am going to reapply it in those areas and see how it comes out. It is supposed to "meld" w/the existing Sharkhide so we'll see how it turns out.............
 
Sharkhide's supposedly easily removed with lacquer cleaner, and it's easy to reapply. It's of very thin consistency.
10/6/12 p.m.--Unfortunately I didn't take time to pickup any lacquer cleaner, and removing the black tarnish with a rag is murder. And the polish ends up being very expensive when it takes numerous cans to do such a job.

And once you start the job, you've at least got to polish the outide two toons and all nosecones--before applying Sharkhide.

I think I need to make a Lowes/Home Depot run.
 
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I towel off the toons after every use so over the years they have stayed pretty clean. I have had it acid washed by our marina staff once and they did a good thorough job. This is the 3rd season since I applied the Sharkhide and it's starting to show wear or have rubbed off in some areas. I am going to reapply it in those areas and see how it comes out. It is supposed to "meld" w/the existing Sharkhide so we'll see how it turns out.............
Daril, I had sharkhide applied before the toons touched water and I have been wondering how I was going to proceed when my boat comes out this coming weekend. Do I power wash and then just reapply the sharkhide or what? Let me know how yours turn out, Thanks
 
Just bought my first toon. Can anyone recommend a cleaner for the deck furniture? Also, can I use a power washer with medium PSI (1100-1300) to clean carpet? Thanks
 
Just bought my first toon. Can anyone recommend a cleaner for the deck furniture? Also, can I use a power washer with medium PSI (1100-1300) to clean carpet? Thanks
Welcome and congrats on the new toon!

Bennington provides a lot of great cleaning tips HERE
 
power washers do not work on the carpet. The carpet will soak up the low volume of water and the pressure only hurts the carpet. If the carpet needs cleaning, we use a water hose, deck brush and carpet shampo. Use lots of water to soak the carpet and when rinsing. Let dry before playpen cover goes back on.
 
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Just bought my first toon. Can anyone recommend a cleaner for the deck furniture? Also, can I use a power washer with medium PSI (1100-1300) to clean carpet? Thanks
I'd check out the Bissell little green machine, (get the one with the powered, and heat if ya like) works great in the house on the boat, in the car. I haven't actually used it to remove stains in my boat because quite frankly, I haven't had any yet. It does a GREAT job of drying the carpet if you have a few soaked areas and want to cover it up with playpen cover.

Actually, I just remembered. I did use the green machine on my old boat! When I got it winterized, the guy forgot to put my gas cap back on after pitting in stabilizer, I drove away. It was a 2075GLi so it had the tank under the rear sundeck, well when I got to the gas station a while later, I figured out why I could smell gas! It had sploshed out all under the sundeck and was a mess. I took the green machine to it and come spring there wasn't a stain or smell or any difference in the carpet fibers between where the gas was and wasn't. Great little machine.

Derrick
 
I cleaned my toons with some Eagle 1 Mag wheel cleaner.

mag-cleaner.png


I bought it at pep boys for around $7 a bottle. It took around 4 bottles to do the toons for the first time. 2 bottles each log.

I wished I would have taken some before and after pictures. I have Zero lake moss or any type of scum on the toon's. But I did have a ring all the way around the toon's from hard water. It was almost a charcoal dark water ring at the water line all the way around the boat.

I bought a bottle of Aluminum wheel cleaner and tried that at first. The Aluminum wheel cleaner did not have enough strength to remove the water mark. So I switched to the Mag wheel cleaner. I would first recommend that you start out by starting on the rear section of the toon's (The end caps). This will give you a Idea if you like the look of how the cleaner works and leaves your toons. It does change the finish of the Aluminum if your toon's are shiny brand new looking it gives them more of a satin finish. Tape off the ends of the toons and make sure you don't get any on the adjacent surfaces like the sides. This way if for any reason you don't like how the Mag wheel cleaner made your toon's look its no big deal. This is good advice when ever you use a new product. Try it on a small out of the way section and see how it works before you put it on a large section.

This product is an Oxidizer, So wear gloves. Also you will need a soft scrub brush. This will help you spread the cleaner around. Make sure the scrub brush is not stiff enough to scratch your toons.

Spray the cleaner at the top of the toon. As soon as it hits the toon it will foam and turn white starting the chemical reaction and run down. Spray more of the cleaner below the line you just treated to make a even line of cleaner all the way down the section your working on. Do this all the way down the small section you just treated. Work in small sections and make sure the area you’re working with is completely covered with cleaner. Then scrub or spread the cleaner all around the section you just sprayed. Let it sit for a few moments 30-60 seconds. Don't let it dry. Water stop’s the cleaning and neutralizes the chemical reaction so don't wet the sections your haven't cleaned the cleaner is more effective on dry sections. Do it in small section and you will be fine you will clearly see any spots or sections you missed just re treat them to even out the finish. Don’t spray this on any aluminum you don’t want to clean compleatley, because you will see a spray or spatter on the adjacent surfaces. Areas like the front cones I say you tape off "at the weld" of the pontoon under the boat. This way when you clean the front cone you will not see an overspray on the underside of the toons you don’t want to clean.

This stuff works amazing. You can see the scaling or hard water line falling off the toons. Kind of like how you de-scale a coffee pot. You can see the hard water line just fall off. It leaves the toon's even and perfectly clean. The first time you use it takes the longest and uses the most cleaner. I can now clean my toon's with 1 bottle. I clean them before the get a dark line. It only takes 30 mins to do both toons once they are pretty clean and they are all the same finish and look great.
 
I cleaned my toons with some Eagle 1 Mag wheel cleaner.

mag-cleaner.png


I bought it at pep boys for around $7 a bottle. It took around 4 bottles to do the toons for the first time. 2 bottles each log.

I wished I would have taken some before and after pictures. I have Zero lake moss or any type of scum on the toon's. But I did have a ring all the way around the toon's from hard water. It was almost a charcoal dark water ring at the water line all the way around the boat.

I bought a bottle of Aluminum wheel cleaner and tried that at first. The Aluminum wheel cleaner did not have enough strength to remove the water mark. So I switched to the Mag wheel cleaner. I would first recommend that you start out by starting on the rear section of the toon's (The end caps). This will give you a Idea if you like the look of how the cleaner works and leaves your toons. It does change the finish of the Aluminum if your toon's are shiny brand new looking it gives them more of a satin finish. Tape off the ends of the toons and make sure you don't get any on the adjacent surfaces like the sides. This way if for any reason you don't like how the Mag wheel cleaner made your toon's look its no big deal. This is good advice when ever you use a new product. Try it on a small out of the way section and see how it works before you put it on a large section.

This product is an Oxidizer, So wear gloves. Also you will need a soft scrub brush. This will help you spread the cleaner around. Make sure the scrub brush is not stiff enough to scratch your toons.

Spray the cleaner at the top of the toon. As soon as it hits the toon it will foam and turn white starting the chemical reaction and run down. Spray more of the cleaner below the line you just treated to make a even line of cleaner all the way down the section your working on. Do this all the way down the small section you just treated. Work in small sections and make sure the area you’re working with is completely covered with cleaner. Then scrub or spread the cleaner all around the section you just sprayed. Let it sit for a few moments 30-60 seconds. Don't let it dry. Water stop’s the cleaning and neutralizes the chemical reaction so don't wet the sections your haven't cleaned the cleaner is more effective on dry sections. Do it in small section and you will be fine you will clearly see any spots or sections you missed just re treat them to even out the finish. Don’t spray this on any aluminum you don’t want to clean compleatley, because you will see a spray or spatter on the adjacent surfaces. Areas like the front cones I say you tape off "at the weld" of the pontoon under the boat. This way when you clean the front cone you will not see an overspray on the underside of the toons you don’t want to clean.

This stuff works amazing. You can see the scaling or hard water line falling off the toons. Kind of like how you de-scale a coffee pot. You can see the hard water line just fall off. It leaves the toon's even and perfectly clean. The first time you use it takes the longest and uses the most cleaner. I can now clean my toon's with 1 bottle. I clean them before the get a dark line. It only takes 30 mins to do both toons once they are pretty clean and they are all the same finish and look great.
Any pics of the finished result?

Derrick
 
I got some Mothers' Aluminum polish this afternoon, and polished about 2 square inches. I couldn't believe how much black came off on the rag.

I've got a Fitz round polishing ball on an electric drill do the hard work, will and see if I can come up with enough old towels to remove the black. It's been said to use lacquer cleaner until no black is coming on the rags.

Then, apply Sharkhide.

I just hope I've got enough time to complete the job. Being retired is a full time proposition--not including doing all these side jobs.
 
Gee -

I used that Mag wheel cleaner a few years ago on car wheels. I was stunned by how well it worked. It worked so well, I never had to use it again (regular washings kept the wheels clean after that).

Anyway, I think I still have the bottle and will try some on my end caps. Thanks for posting the idea.
 
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I just happened to stumble across the MSDS sheet for the Mag wheel cleaner. The NFPA hazard rating for "health" is a 3 (extreme danger). If you are not familiar with the ratings, they go up as high as a 4, which they label as "deadly".

So, be careful with this stuff. It will burn your skin, eyes, and lungs.

But the stuff works!
 
Holy crap! That's a huge difference! Well done!

Derrick
 
If you're up to it, polishing those toons will make'em look like a mirror.

After purchasing Mother's Aluminum Polish last week, I applied the polish to my toons by hand. I'm really not satisfied with the end result, even though that product is highly rated. I need to buy lacquer cleaner to get the black oxidation off the toons.

Got on UTube and found some aluminum boats/pontoons being polished with a 6" power buffer (like body shops and auto detailers use.) Power tools are the secret to metal polishing, but a quality buffer starts @ $120. AutoGeek.com also has some info on detailing boats.

I guess I'll go back to the drawing board--buying a different brand of aluminum/metal polish and a good buffer.
 
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