If I remember correctly, 1 quart of Sharkhide will do 2 coats and leave some left over for touch up. The parts that you cannot get are more or less irrelevant. Even if you could get the bottom of the pontoons, putting it on and taking it off the trailer will rub it off.
Keeping the Toons Looking Great
- Thread starter JoeR
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If I remember correctly, 1 quart of Sharkhide will do 2 coats and leave some left over for touch up. The parts that you cannot get are more or less irrelevant. Even if you could get the bottom of the pontoons, putting it on and taking it off the trailer will rub it off.
Woke up at 4am, focused on 1 pontoon.... spent 2 hours Dremel polishing the areas around the welds that the polishing glides over, then removing the dust and compound in 25 degree weather, decided to give it another pass with the polisher using the Mothers Mag polish (couldn't find the billet locally). Spent another hour removing the final compound and dust.
found that there is still residue from the Acetone which takes a lot of elbow grease to remove with a cotton diaper so I attached the cotton to my polisher and buffed it out while removing all the excess film / haze, touched up spots with the acetone then it started snowing hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Waited 3 hours for snow to stop... went outside wiped the toon down again with a new cotton diaper and applied the sharkhide at 34 degrees.
It leaves a rainbow sheen when applied to mirror finishes, you can kind of see it in these pics...
About 3 hours after applying the sharkhide we got freezing rain :wacko:
I really hope the stuff cured!!! Here are the pics AFTER the freezing rain onslaught.
Can you see the temporary rainbow sheen?
Welds up close, notice the rainbow on the right?
Nosecone
THIS IS A PIC OF THE OTHER SIDE AT THE SAME TIME, BEFORE THE FINAL DETAIL AND CUT ESSENTIAL A BEFORE AND AFTER...
Is the mothers mag and aluminum polish messy like the gords product? I've been using Gords and it would be nice to not have to cover everything because of the spray. Also, any tips on getting the "black stuff" off after buffing before sharkhide? I feel like I"be been rubbing for hours and the paper towels still have black on them. Thanks
Kaydano, holy shit! I had tears running down my face as I was reading the steps to my wife. I polished my toons 3 years ago and I felt like I was reliving those painful 3 days all over again. My neighbor still laughs about the way my face looked the first day. I had no idea I was turning black until I looked into a mirror. It's great blowing black snot for 2 days.
I didn't put sharkhide on my toons so now they look horrible again. I've started the process again with my left over Gords and plan to use sharkhide after. I hope the polishing will be over after this. First toon took 3.5 hours. Still trying to get the black stuff off to apply SH.
kaydano
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Glad you enjoyed it!
I forgot about blowing black snot for days. I should add that one to the list.
I forgot about blowing black snot for days. I should add that one to the list.
keithkz
Well-Known Member
I would argue with Clint on this because my boat is kept in the water at my dock during the boating season. I applied Sharkhide metal protectant 2 years ago after I polished my toons. I didn't apply any last year. I did put a coat of it on again 2 weeks ago before placing my boat in the water for the season (that was my plan all along....reapply every other year). My toons still look every bit as good as they did 2 years ago. During the offseason it is stored on my trailer in an indoor heated building. When I pull it out in the fall I immediately power wash the little bit of algae off of the toons which is an effortless job because the Sharkhide makes the algae come right off.....takes me no longer than 15 minutes to power wash all 3 toons off.
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Kells
Well-Known Member
I haven't used the Gords... this is not messy, it's the consistency of toothpaste.
I went through 24 rolls of paper towel and 3 gallons of acetone... In the beginning the black stuff never ends, but after the 4th round of polishing it was significantly less...
Kells
Well-Known Member
Wanted to follow back up with everyone curious about the Sharkhide and how it holds up after checking out the pics I took above (BEFORE) this summer of boating.
I took the boat out 2 weeks ago, powerwashed it, and 90% of the pontoons look exactly as they did above.
The only issues is where I had some "bumper burn" from my dock that dulled the finish kinda like a haze... and the worst part of of the haze in the center was just a little darker from oxidation of the aluminum.
I also noticed a little streak where I missed with the sharkhide which is now dull grey due to oxidation, and essentially what the entire pontoon would have looked like if I had not applied the sharkhide.
My boat guy was very impressed... he said he had a guy mirror his pontoons, then just dropped it in the water... the mirror was gone by the end of the week!
I'll get some pics uploaded... now that i'm not as busy boating, I can post more
I took the boat out 2 weeks ago, powerwashed it, and 90% of the pontoons look exactly as they did above.
The only issues is where I had some "bumper burn" from my dock that dulled the finish kinda like a haze... and the worst part of of the haze in the center was just a little darker from oxidation of the aluminum.
I also noticed a little streak where I missed with the sharkhide which is now dull grey due to oxidation, and essentially what the entire pontoon would have looked like if I had not applied the sharkhide.
My boat guy was very impressed... he said he had a guy mirror his pontoons, then just dropped it in the water... the mirror was gone by the end of the week!
I'll get some pics uploaded... now that i'm not as busy boating, I can post more
lakeliving
Well-Known Member
I can't believe you pulled out only a couple weeks ago. Mine has been out since September due to the lake level being dropped. Looking forward to the photos as well.
keithkz
Well-Known Member
How in the world did you have low lake levels this year....especially in August/September??? This was the one year we actually had nice and high levels on our chain of lakes due to all the rain.
mattb
Well-Known Member
I am disappointed in my toons condition because of the application quality of the Sharkhide. There are multiple swirl marks from where it was applied with a cloth and the level of coating changed as they went along. Dealer, of course, says it is not a permanent coating and subject to abrasion, rubbing etc. etc. The center toon at stern is darker than the outers. I even sent her pics. I think they did it at dealer and she doesn't want to own it. It is going back for warranty service in Jan. and i will show her in person and we'll see what happens. Pics in gallery. As much as i'd like nice shiny toons, i like being on the water more. And of course, there is always too much other shit to do around the house, cars, property, family....
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lakeliving
Well-Known Member
Our lake is dam controlled and every other fall they draw the water down 3' so you can work on your seawall a etc. this year they said they had to do some repairs to the dam before it got cold so they drained it early. Then in the spring it comes back up.
Bob& Deb
Member
aurora makes products to keep the toons looking good. I haven't tried them, they are pricey. It's a three step process. Cleaning, polishing then the protector. Their polish goes on with a rectangular buffer and pad. the extra washes off with water. The protector goes on either by spray or brush.
https://www.auroramarine.com/store/aluminum.html
This is their website. There are also videos on you tube showing before and after.
https://www.auroramarine.com/store/aluminum.html
This is their website. There are also videos on you tube showing before and after.
Michiman
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the suggestion!
kaydano
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That is sooooooooooo profound.
Note that time spent polishing pontoons is measured in days, not hours.
keithkz
Well-Known Member
Exactly. I'm done with doing this to my pontoons again. Did it 4 years ago. Not doing it again. I swear I'm STILL sore from it. LOVE the results and so do my neighbors but man.....that was some intense work. I'll put Sharkhide protectant on it every spring to keep this shine as long as I can but I have 5 year old twins to raise so I just don't have the time to do things like this anymore.....and even if time wasn't an issue I don't think I want to endure not being able to hardly walk or move again for 24 hrs after doing this task.
mattb
Well-Known Member
I got the story from our dealer, she says they "sent out" a few toons to have sharkhide applied. She agrees that it is a poor job and will refund the cost, which of course I will put right back into the Benni, second table. I did not want to argue about them redoing it, or covering my redoing it because I'm not going to. I will talk to Clint and see if I can do some spot fixes, but that would be about it.
KC24
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BUT!! They look Awesome!!!
Bob& Deb
Member
Here is a ad for the Aurora products, for cleaning pontoons. It also has a video that shows how to use them.
https://www.auroramarine.com/store/special-aluminum-2
tcpip95
Well-Known Member
My boat was kept in a wet slip for 4 years. Every year I had it bottom painted. I'm now trailering the boat, and have no need for bottom painting. Now the 'toons look like crap with 2 year-old bottom paint. Sooooo......
I took the boat down yesterday and had the pontoons all soda blasted. Removed all the bottom paint, some minor surface scratches, etc. They now look like they have been painted with a grey primer (which is actually the aluminum with a fine "bead blast" appearance). They are ABSOLUTELY clean.
Before I dip it in the water, I want to protect them with Sharkhide. Before I can protect it with Sharkhide, I have to lightly sand them, and then polish them. I'll use 1000 grit to smooth out the textured finish that the soda blasting did. Once that is done, I'll polish them using the methods that you all have described here. THEN, I'll protect them with Sharkhide. I'll be including pics as I go along.
The soda blasting did a great job of getting rid of the bottom paint, but did expose some pitting that occurred underneath the bottom paint over the years. The blasting guy said this was not unusual, and said don't sweat it as it's not too bad. He said the toons themselves are in great shape, but the lifting strakes and performance foils looked pretty pitted, so gotta see what I'm going to do with that.
I took the boat down yesterday and had the pontoons all soda blasted. Removed all the bottom paint, some minor surface scratches, etc. They now look like they have been painted with a grey primer (which is actually the aluminum with a fine "bead blast" appearance). They are ABSOLUTELY clean.
Before I dip it in the water, I want to protect them with Sharkhide. Before I can protect it with Sharkhide, I have to lightly sand them, and then polish them. I'll use 1000 grit to smooth out the textured finish that the soda blasting did. Once that is done, I'll polish them using the methods that you all have described here. THEN, I'll protect them with Sharkhide. I'll be including pics as I go along.
The soda blasting did a great job of getting rid of the bottom paint, but did expose some pitting that occurred underneath the bottom paint over the years. The blasting guy said this was not unusual, and said don't sweat it as it's not too bad. He said the toons themselves are in great shape, but the lifting strakes and performance foils looked pretty pitted, so gotta see what I'm going to do with that.
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azray007
Well-Known Member
Good luck! I've decided to do mine as well. I got on Amazon and ordered everything. I'll have the Sharkhide on Tuesday so hopefully by the weekend I'll have this job completed. It sounds like we're in for a serious workout, both mentally and physically. I hope yours turn out fantastic!
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