Back to the main site

DIY help

Remediation

Remediation

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,955
Reaction score
1,158
Location
Lake Cumberland KY - White Oak Community Dock
Got back to your new to us boat this weekend and installed a new prop. Picked up 4 mph at 3000 rpm cruise and 2 mph top end. Still only 36 mph at 4600rpm with a 350 I/O. Later in the day was floating and looked under the boat for first time. Has the underdeck skinning and the tubes are somewhat clean till I felt the bottom by the keel. It felt like the boat had barnacles. This boat was in the water for 12 months a year for the first 3 years in TN. I don't think the toons below the bunk line of the trailer have ever been cleaned.

Question #1. Suggestions to get the boat in a position that I can clean/sand/polish the entire toon. I'm not 20 so laying on my back with the boat 12" above me won't work. This will take more than power washing.

Question #2. We have the helm seat that raises like an office chair. As TB posted they fail and they don't use them anymore. Mine never did work and I took the seat off yesterday to remove and repair the strut. Went to unscrew the base and it won't unscrew. In a 2008 boat is the base bolted to the floor and if so do you have to remove the underskinning to get at the nuts? If not what is the procudure to either remove the base or the seat strut from the base. It is a Springfield Marine seat base.
 
Remediation said:
Question #1. Suggestions to get the boat in a position that I can clean/sand/polish the entire toon. I'm not 20 so laying on my back with the boat 12" above me won't work. This will take more than power washing.
Click to expand...
Sea-Legs. I used mine at the dock this past weekend and pressure washed the toons. They will lift the boat a good 5' off the ground in water or out. They cost some bucks, but are amazingly useful, and fun too!

slide-01.jpg


I had hoped for a bit more with the pressure washing. All the black and more recent green crud came off, but what remains feels like concrete.

med_gallery_1279_123_95807.jpg


It looks like a lot more work in person. I will follow this thread with great interest.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Man, that looks like a tough project. Reach deep into your bag of tricks and start experimenting. You might search Iboats for some help. Wider array of experience there.
 
I feel that mine will look worse than that. If you grind/sand the corrision will the metal get too thin? Your Sea Legs did give me an idea.
 
A sand blaster filled with only baking soda as the media, may be worth considering. Of course, an air supply is needed to run the sand blast pot.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
CcanDo said:
A sand blaster filled with only baking soda as the media, may be worth considering. Of course, an air supply is needed to run the sand blast pot.
Click to expand...
Or maybe the plastic media would work without hurting the metal. Come to think of it, we used crushed walnut shells when cleaning valves and intake manifolds on Audis while the motor was still together and in the car.
 
I spoke with Gord, the owner/seller of Gords, yesterday. His advice was to clean the crud off of the pontoons before using his cleaner polisher sealer. He suggested using green scotch bright pads along with dawn dish detergent, then going back with the more abrasive maroon scotch brite pads as needed. I'm thinking this type of sanding will not harm the aluminum. We'll see if it will harm the crud.

I will try the scotch brite pads without the detergent first - I don't want to get soap in the lake, and am reluctant to pull the boat from the water.

Too bad I can't drop the boat into a big tub of hot water, dawn, and oxyclean for a good soak.
 
There was a thread about boat lifts here and TB mentioned that the front welded eyes on the toons and the u-Bolts on the back can be used as lifting points. My plan is to raise the back just off the trailer and build a hoist to lift the front enough to pull the trailer out and crib the toons at the front weld. After cleaning I would hook the hoist back up to get the spots under the cribbing. Does anybody know the weight on a 2008 2575 RCW. I need to size my slings, cables and jacks.
 
Jim_R said:
I spoke with Gord, the owner/seller of Gords, yesterday. His advice was to clean the crud off of the pontoons before using his cleaner polisher sealer. He suggested using green scotch bright pads along with dawn dish detergent, then going back with the more abrasive maroon scotch brite pads as needed. I'm thinking this type of sanding will not harm the aluminum. We'll see if it will harm the crud.

I will try the scotch brite pads without the detergent first - I don't want to get soap in the lake, and am reluctant to pull the boat from the water.

Too bad I can't drop the boat into a big tub of hot water, dawn, and oxyclean for a good soak.
Click to expand...
Mine will not come home for 2 months to be worked on. You will be the test subject for what works on the crud. Did Gord think it is corrosion(rust)or crud?
 
Remediation said:
Mine will not come home for 2 months to be worked on. You will be the test subject for what works on the crud. Did Gord think it is corrosion(rust)or crud?
Click to expand...
It is clearly oxidation, lime and calcium. A build up of many years from a previous owner. My fingers are crossed in hope that the scotch brite pads will do the trick. Having said that, plan B looks to be JJVs Best Aluminum Cleaner. If I go that route I will have to check with Gord, but believe some time is needed to allow the aluminum to passivate again before I can use Gord's cleaner/polish/sealer.
 
Jim_R said:
It is clearly oxidation, lime and calcium. A build up of many years from a previous owner. My fingers are crossed in hope that the scotch brite pads will do the trick. Having said that, plan B looks to be JJVs Best Aluminum Cleaner. If I go that route I will have to check with Gord, but believe some time is needed to allow the aluminum to passivate again before I can use Gord's cleaner/polish/sealer.
Click to expand...
You'll need a variable speed buffer to get the scotchbrite pads to work. I have some staining below the waterline on my boat. The scotchbrite pads knocked the buildup off but didn't remove the staining of the metal. Basically, from an angle, my entire toon is as smooth as glass but when you look at it dead on, you see ugly waterline marks.

I've seen the jjvs best videos and would love to see before and after photos from someone who is not affiliated with the company.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
spinzone said:
I've seen the jjvs best videos and would love to see before and after photos from someone who is not affiliated with the company.
Click to expand...
Here you go:

These guys are not affiliated, but you may have seen this vid already. As the Wisconsin lakes they are in should not be too different from the Illinois lakes frequented by my boats previous owner, I am hoping for similar results. I did find some negative comments from a guy over at iboats, mostly regarding streaking and overspray, but the guy freely admits not following instructions. The overspray resulted in cleaner spots on trim and rails. The streaks appear to be the result of not working bottom up with application and top down with pressure wash rinsing. I am pretty sure that the tip in the above vid about avoiding streaks by carefully rinsing behind toon brackets and supports also was not followed. I did observe that JJV appeared very responsive to the dude. The last thing that sold me is that I found out yesterday that my Bennington dealer is also a JJVs distributer - I was wondering why I see so many clean toons out on the water where I'm at, this has got to be why. I will be speaking to them about their experience with the product today.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I like the statement that they followed directions. Did not cover painted surfaces, washed from bottom up. It did help knowing how much they used.
 
What I liked was the results on the very back of the toons. You really have to watch for it, but the areas at the very stern of the port tube were fouled far more than the rest of the boat and the product seemed to do a real good job there. It looked to me like a second application to that area would have cleaned it all up.

I also noted that the folks in the vid mentioned chalking after it dried which cleaned up with a normal washing of the tubes. Some of the other acid based products call for cleaning chalking up with lacquer thinner. I've heard that JJVs is heavy alkaline, rather than heavy acid. Not sure if JJVs is any easier on the aluminum than the acids.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Remediation said:
Got back to your new to us boat this weekend and installed a new prop. Picked up 4 mph at 3000 rpm cruise and 2 mph top end. Still only 36 mph at 4600rpm with a 350 I/O. Later in the day was floating and looked under the boat for first time. Has the underdeck skinning and the tubes are somewhat clean till I felt the bottom by the keel. It felt like the boat had barnacles. This boat was in the water for 12 months a year for the first 3 years in TN. I don't think the toons below the bunk line of the trailer have ever been cleaned.

Question #1. Suggestions to get the boat in a position that I can clean/sand/polish the entire toon. I'm not 20 so laying on my back with the boat 12" above me won't work. This will take more than power washing.

Question #2. We have the helm seat that raises like an office chair. As TB posted they fail and they don't use them anymore. Mine never did work and I took the seat off yesterday to remove and repair the strut. Went to unscrew the base and it won't unscrew. In a 2008 boat is the base bolted to the floor and if so do you have to remove the underskinning to get at the nuts? If not what is the procudure to either remove the base or the seat strut from the base. It is a Springfield Marine seat base.
Click to expand...
This thread seems to have favored the tube cleaning issue which there are many threads on already, but I am more interested in how or what is the easiest way to unbolt the seat base myself. I hate how low my seat sits "Bennington seems to think that the tallest people are 5'6" or something". I find driving my Benny for too long gets uncomfortable with the chair being so low, 6'3" and 275 doesn't work so well at the current height, my wife is 5'10" and she even says the chair is too low for her also, but the bottom bolts are about impossible to get access to. I was going to custom build a wrench to be able to reach in to hold the nuts but was going to try and fabricate some 1" - 1-1/2" spacers to put between the chair and base first.

I have brought this up in the past also and there still has been no solution brought forward by TB or anyone else. This is a case where bolts or screws would have been a better decision for mounting the panels between the deck and tubes instead of rivets.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just called Springfield Marine who made my pedestal. Got voicemail for customer service. I will pass on what I learn.

Wild - have you seen were & how the base attached underneath?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jim_R said:
Here you go:

Click to expand...
I've seen this video before. Those guys are distributors for the product. They have another video selling the product where they are cleaning a canoe in the yard. I have not seen or heard of anyone else using the product with any feedback of any kind. It appears to work exceptionally well in the video which is why I am hoping to see someone experiment with the product.
 
I am going to buy some to try. I like the no acid part. The company video show the product dripping on a concrete floor which acid would effect. Not pulling the boat for two months so no quick product review.
 
Remediation said:
I just called Springfield Marine who made my pedestal. Got voicemail for customer service. I will pass on what I learn.
Click to expand...
Got a call back from Springfield Marine. The pedestal part of the seat is permanently mounted to the base. To change any pedestal the base has to come off the boat. They make a manual adjustable pedestal that I am interested in but I have to figure out how to detach the base from the deck.

Wild - Some options for adjustable pedestals - http://www.cascadedepot.com/servlet/the-PEDESTALS-cln-ADJUSTABLE/s/26/Categories
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top