Ok back to the original question. How to remove scratches!!!!
well if they are real deep like they look in the photo that's a real tricky one.
#1 your going to have to acid wash your tunes. And once your ok with that because it changes the look from what the factory aluminum looks like you can begin.
2. To remove a scratch you have to remove material (aluminum) so your sanding out the scratch by lowering the surface around the scratch. If the scratch is real deep you may have to remove so much material you MAY risk making your toon thin in this spot. This is all if it's real deep scratch (like the ones in the photo) so you have to determine is the scratch can be removed "with out" causing further issues that's step #2
sanding your toons requires some wood working type skills. I don't recommend using any power tools because you can create a hole or dent pretty quick.
but by wrapping some paper around a flexible sanding block you can follow the natural curve of the pontoon and slowly sand out the scratch. It's gonna take some time. I like to sand up and down. Example starting at the water line and sanding up towards the rub rail and then back down that's (Up and Down) to me.
You have to try and "sand out" or "blend" your sanding Aera I like to only go a few inches above and below the scratch like 6 inches above and below the scratch.
Start with a small sample Aera. This will give you a idea what's involved. And how much time could been needed you then cans decide weather to attack or how much to bight off.
This needs to be done out of the water with the toon fully exposed.
The grain on the benningtons aluminum runs from front to back don't worry about going against the grain for now. Just do your best to sand out the scratch. When or if you can get the scratch out then we can switch from 220 grit to a higher grit like 320. Once your 320 grit scratches are out you can switch to a 3M red pad. The red pad is what you will use to Re grain the aluminum. The red pad will put the micro fine scratches or grain that runs down the side of your toons. This "re graining" needs to be done straight and Gos from the front of the toon to the back. This blends your work Aera, you can finish it off with a 3M White pad and acid wash the toon. I have found that with these grits and a acid wash you can remove small scratches and make them look like it never happend.
Please protect other areas of your boat from acid wash overspray and scratching other parts of your boat like the anodized aluminum ( you can't refinish that stuff) so protect it. My advise is to practice or develop your teqnique on a scratch out of the way. That way if you find out your all thumbs and you don't have the time and patience, you can abandon ship and its no big deal. You don't wanna take on "ScratchZilla" ( like in the photos above) in the center of your toon with no scratch removal exp under your belt. It takes some practice but once you get it you can fix up small oopsey scratches in your sleep!
I'm trying to keep them all straight!
