TOPIC: Deoxidizing and polishing aluminum hull

Hi, I have a princecraft aluminum boat that I would like to deoxidize and polish the bottom to help it slide off the bunks better. I saw online purple metal polish and deoxidizer that claims to work well. Anyone ever use it? Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

I've never had the need to use this but was talking to a friend about his aluminum pontoons and he referred me to this, check it out, I hope it helps your boat...my buddy did say, wear gloves. (probably long sleeves also) Good luck and Happy New Year

also an electric buffer/grinder with a couple pads for final polish makes life easier

Thanks, I'll check it out.

I have heard about people using a product called Zing to clean aluminum pontoon flats. I personally know nothing about it, but perhaps others do. You would have to look it up to see if it is a good and safe product. Might be other products and polishing techniques and tools that would be a separate step from just this cleaning. I have seen it after it removed the dark tea like stains some of our rivers cause from the Tamerack tree roots that tint the river and stain our aluminum fishing boat and the aluminum pontoon boats. I might try my Flitz product in the spring on a small section of the aluminum fishing boat as I believe that is supposed to make it shine up with a buffing wheel. I may find it too pricey for a whole aluminum boat. The Flitz has worked nicely on taking the cloudiness out of some old sun faded gel coat that I am pleased with. I may even try some of my aluminum streak cleaner on my shelf mad for RVs. It worked on my old aluminum camper. Good luck in your hunt for the best solution for you.

I have owned several bare aluminum boats, and still have a couple. My end of season cleaning typically uses one of 2 products. One can be found at any NAPA store... their 'Aluminum Brightener'. The other, Meguiar's wheel cleaner (...in the red bottle. It's the one for chrome). Both have phosphoric acid as their active ingredient. The wheel cleaner one is a bit milder solution. No hard scrubbing is usually necessary, just spray on a manageable section at a time, light scrub with a car wash brush, and rinse off. Stubborn stains can be removed with a Scotchbrite pad before rinsing.
Any chemical cleaning should be followed by a thorough pressure wash to remove all traces of the acid from all the nooks and crannies. I like the clean 'as manufactured' finish, so don't polish. If you are going for that mirror polished finish, then the chemical step isn't really necessary except for the interior or other parts that won't be polished, since you'd be removing the oxidation by mechanical means anyway.

Done with proper care, adequate protection, and respect for the materials involved, this is perfectly safe ...just don't do it on a patch of lawn that you care about. If you're really only looking to get it to slide off the bunks easier, I'm not sure that any of this would help much. Maybe you need more slippery bunks?

It's interesting to note that the Star Brite video condemns the use of 'dangerous acids', but the product's MDS lists sulfuric acid as an ingredient. Their marketing aside, I'd imagine that the product probably works.

Thanks, I'll check it out, I've been waiting for the warmer weather. Did you find out what it does to your lawn the hard way?

propnut wrote: ...Did you find out what it does to your lawn the hard way?

Sadly, yes...



It did eventually recover, just not before my wife got home. That it was boat shaped really didn't allow me much wiggle room.