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Cleaning Pantoons

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Jokes aside...

A pressure washer IS the best thing to use.

Having said that...

Standing in the water next to your pontoon and rubbing them down with a wet 3M pad will keep them fairly clean.

If you must use cleaners, Simple Green is a good choice.

If the boat is our of the water...?

Seriously... There's nothing quite as good as a pressure washer. Rent one if you don't own one.

Just understand...

As a PRACTICAL matter, you ain't gonna have nice shiny pontoons past your first season. There ARE things you can do to either keep them shiny or make them shiny again, but the level of effort goes up FAST.
 
Jay & Claire said:
What is the best material to use in cleaning the pantoon itself?
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I don't know how Bennington forms the Tube. Though it probably starts by shearing an Aluminum coil to length, then stretch forming or roll forming to shape. Either way, perosity inside the tube is less than outside. Under microscope, perosity may look like mountains and holes. Subject to corruption from corrosion, acidity embeds in the holes. The variance between the peaks and valleys then continues to increase, causing the naked eye to see unsightly "pockets".

Therefore, a solution may include an air powered DA sander and 1200 or 2000 grit sand paper to knock off the peaks. (3M has good disk sand paper). Subject the tubes condition, one may start more aggresive, such as 240 grit. Probably, finite holes will remain. Therefore, a good pressure washer, wash job will clean corruption. Then, a sealer will have a cleaner surface for bonding.

Typically, one likes "any" smoothing so much that you continue until it looks like a mirror. Then, that look can really turn into an on going project. A clean tube, polished with moderation, washed and sealed regularly, is my preferance.

The sealer/wax we found is Silicone/Teflon based. The product is under the trademark of both Alumi-grip and All-grip. Both are the same, only one is marketed for aircraft, the other for marine. Subject to using the product, put it on and give it 2-3 hrs. to bond/dry. Then you can polish with a clean, soft towel. Life expectancy is better than anything else tried.

Note: a highly polished surface is flat enough to encourage water to bond or cling, thereby scrubbing speed or simply requiring more power/fuel.
 
You're talking about destroying the boundary effect and increasing hydraulic drag, correct?
 
ericscher said:
You're talking about destroying the boundary effect and increasing hydraulic drag, correct?
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Yes, similar to orange peel paint on the NASCAR, car. Water, being more dense, sees even more effect.
 
Cohesion is the enemy of faster speeds. To brighten dulled or darkened tubes.....Aluma-brite by EnviroTech.
 
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Wow, you guys are making me dizzy :D

Jay&Clair, are your toons new? If so, i suggest putting a sealer on them, such as sharkhide, or perhaps the products CcanDo mentioned. For general cleaning, i use car wash soap, for barnicles and slime Ericsher's power washer suggestion is the way to go.

As for the boundry layer, cohesion, surface tension..... my boat only goes 18mph, how much could i loose? :p

And, by the way Eric, Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
 
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Geoffrey & Brenda said:
Wow, you guys are making me dizzy :D

Jay&Clair, are your toons new? If so, i suggest putting a sealer on them, such as sharkhide, or perhaps the products CcanDo mentioned. For general cleaning, i use car wash soap, for barnicles and slime Ericsher's power washer suggestion is the way to go.

As for the boundry layer, cohesion, surface tension..... my boat only goes 18mph, how much could i loose? :p

And, by the way Eric, Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
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Hmmm...well, you could loose 18 or somewhere in between. LOL

We use a car wash for several jobs. The car wash is one path of least resistance. The car wash also uses strong chemicals, supported by a water softener. A water softener often uses salt. The combination might destroy a recently applied sealer. Unprotected Aluminum hates salt. The safest solution for washing the automobile, boat, etc. is probably a dish washing detergent or something like Allwash, a home pressure washer or not and un-brined water. The pressure washer will blast and clean the pores, garden hose pressure may not.
 
I love my Ridgid pressure washer because it'll blast the grime off almost anything, including pontoon tubes. But.....it won't do diddly squat to brighten darkened, tarnished tubes to a nice machined aluminum appearance. Most acid cleaners will leave your tubes a chalky white color. Not pretty.

Here's our 04 Bennington after an application of Alumabrite by EnviroTech. It's great stuff!
 
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That looks great! After the Alumabrite did you seal/protect it with anything?
 
Beautiful. Just beautiful!!!!
 
I've been thinking about doing Sharkhide. It works great on new tubes. My friend who Sharkhides many new pontoons said that it's hit or miss on older tubes and is a bear to remove if it doesn't take in any areas. He doesn't believe that I'd have any issues since I keep my tubes very clean, but should I chance it? With my luck, I'd screw it up and have to remove it all. I'll have to give it some more thought, but in the meantime the Alumabrite is working quite well.
 
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