chowda,
I too am one who's taken many, many, many hours to POLISH our pontoons. As has been stated, it's a ton of work. There's not many Pontoon or Tri-toon owners that are willing to keep up with the continued effort, work, AND MASSIVE AMOUNT OF TIME it takes to KEEP them highly polished. I am and have been retired for several years. So, while the process of keeping my toons in a highly polished state does get monotonous and very tiring, the results are still very much worth it to me. Our boat doesn't go anywhere without receiving very nice compliments from folks. And I'm very much appreciative of all of them.
Now, prior to me entering the ever-ongoing polishing process, I wanted those toons to look as nice as possible with no discoloration at all. Our '14 25RCL Bennington had just 24 hours on it when we purchased it 4.5 years ago. It had been sitting and stored INSIDE an RV garage so, it never saw the sun or the water unless it was being used. All this means is, those toons were not in very bad shape when I started messing with them.
The very first thing I did was purchase a product made by Starbrite in the boating section of Walmart. It's an aluminum cleaner/restorer.
https://www.wholesalemarine.com/sta...rer/?msclkid=053af2fb6ca41a16bd8c94b3510c2eb7
I didn't use the little sprayer that came with it because I wanted way better control of what that mild acid came in contact with. I used a diaper folded up to about 5" x 5" or so. I had a shallow pie pan with that product in it and the diaper. I'd soak that diaper in it and then wring it out about 1/2 way. Then, using kitchen dishwashing gloves, I'd apply that product wiping from left to right, starting at the top of the toon, and I'd wipe about 3-4' or so, then overlap that one by 1/2 and do a return direction wipe. Then, overlap and wipe. Then overlap and wipe back. I'd do that 'till the whole section in front of me was done. I'd put down that diaper with the Starbrite and immediately pick up a microfiber Costco yellow towel that was soaking in some clean hot water in a bucket beside me. I'd basically stop the process of aluminum cleaning by wiping that product off with the clean towel.
About 1/2 down the section I was doing, you could see the transaction from dirty oxygenated aluminum to BRIGHT aluminum right before your eyes. By the time I'd put down the application cloth/diaper, the whole section had turned to very bright aluminum and I'd wipe it clean with the clean microfiber towel. I'd change that clean water and rinse the microfiber towel out about every third section or so. That way you had clean water to stop the acidic reaction. Since I was doing all this INSIDE my RV garage, I was not about to bring in a hose and simply rinse that solution off the pontoon, on to my very nicely painted trailer. This is why I did it the way I did.
Then, I got this wild idea to POLISH them. I'd been polishing aluminum since Christ was a pup. I'd polished more car/motorcycle and RV rims than I can even come close to remembering. I knew waaaaaaay in advance what the total process would be to bring those toons to the mirror finish I desire when I do my work. All in all, once started, it was three days of sanding with a disc abrasive sander starting with 320 grit, then onto 400, 600 and 800. Then, 2.5 days of different aluminum rouge's using a 10" x 1" tightly sewn cotton buffing wheel on a 7" grinder. Then, another day of final application of a compound blend of polish rouge and ultra fine cut rouge. In the pics below, you see the results.
The problem with them when you do a mirror polish is, in some cases, such as where we live, here in lake Havasu City AZ, the water in that lake contains chemicals and metals that will attack raw aluminum. Highly polished non-sealed aluminum is RAW aluminum. There is nothing to protect it. Other lakes in other parts of the country do not have the same chemical makeup in their waters. I can do a touch up and those toons are a mirror you can shave in, and in one outing, there will be a brownish waterline stain. If I don't want to fight removing that stain, I'd polish them again before we take it out again. That process takes me around 8-10 hours for the two outside toons, the center rear one to the first weld, and the three nose cones to the first weld. Yep, it's the old cliche, " a labor of love".
But, whatever kind of finish you desire, you must take all the time and effort to do it right and thoroughly so that you have an even, no streak job when done. ONLY THEN do you apply Sharkhyde. And to be really strong, you need at least TWO COATS of Sharkhyde. Good luck and feel free to ask if you have questions. Be glad to assist.
Scott
