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Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2017 10:24 pm
by PontoonChris
Hi Everyone!

My toons are heavily coated with calcium and water stains. I know that truck drivers will polish their aluminum fuel tanks by sanding them with 400 grit sandpaper then using a polishing kit call Zephyr. After polishing the tanks are like a mirror. Would an application like this work for the toons?


Thanks,

Chris

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2017 10:58 am
by Bamaman
Those methods will certainly work. And the initial cleaning of the toons is commonly done with a commercial pontoon cleaner that's an acid wash--like NAPA Metal Restorer or a pontoon boat cleaner. Both leave the aluminum finish clouded.

However maintaining such a shine is very difficult. You have to use a high speed polisher with a cotton applicator and a rouge. I've got the equipment, but not the desire to work so hard.

I use a Porter Cable dual action sander/polisher with a wool bonnet and White Diamond metal polish. It's plenty shiny, but not as shiny as rouge would produce. But the good news is I can do both toons, 3 nosecones and the rear caps in an hour with my D/A polisher..

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 8:17 am
by tcsm
+1 for the White Diamond polish/buffer.
Stuff works great on the toons..

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 6:02 pm
by Strake
[quote="Bamaman"]Those methods will certainly work. And the initial cleaning of the toons is commonly done with a commercial pontoon cleaner that's an acid wash--like NAPA Metal Restorer or a pontoon boat cleaner. Both leave the aluminum finish clouded.

However maintaining such a shine is very difficult. You have to use a high speed polisher with a cotton applicator and a rouge. I've got the equipment, but not the desire to work so hard.

I use a Porter Cable dual action sander/polisher with a wool bonnet and White Diamond metal polish. It's plenty shiny, but not as shiny as rouge would produce. But the good news is I can do both toons, 3 nosecones and the rear caps in an hour with my D/A polisher..[/quote]

Bamaman,

Do you do the acid wash process BEFORE using the PC and White Diamond metal polish, or just do the polisher without needing to acid wash first?

I have no build up on the toons as my boat is lifted out of the water after each use. They just get ugly in about a year's time. I had them Shark hide coated after acid wash about 18 month ago and it's already looking "fair".

I already own a Porter Cable dual action polisher and can get some wool bonnets and White Diamond metal polish. How many wool bonnets do you go through to do the outside toons and center nose cones?

thanks,
Richard

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2017 1:47 am
by Bamaman
Start sanding and you may quickly damage the toons where polish may never work.

If you've got the green algae on the hull, I'd start with the acid based washes. You might have to do some scrubbing after that with Scotchbrite pads too. Wouldn't try to polish the toons until they're clean.

A wool bonnet will last you for years as they can be washed out. Just be careful to put equal pressure the moving bonnet as I snapped off a bolt holding the bonnet to the polisher. I had to order a new part from Porter Cable after I was feathering out some polish too hard.

I'm fortunate that my boat hangs 3' out of the water inside on a rack, and it's never been left in the water overnight. I do try to polish the toons every June, however.

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2017 6:00 am
by Strake
Thanks for the reply......

As my boat also sits out of the water, in our covered boat house, and as never been left in overnight I guess I can skip the acid wash and go right to the polish.

18 months ago, I had the marina where I bought it acid wash it, then put on Shark Hide. It looked great for a year, but is starting to go back to it's tarnished look. I will give the polish a try.

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2017 9:07 am
by tcsm
I have no build up on the toons as my boat is lifted out of the water after each use. They just get ugly in about a year's time. I had them Shark hide coated after acid wash about 18 month ago and it's already looking "fair".

Just a thought..

I think you should try the WD polish by hand in a small area at first as it does not sound like the surface of your pontoons is that bad..
Once the buffer is in play, it becomes hard to keep an evenly polished look because of the curved surface you are working on.
The WD polish starts cutting immediately by hand with very little effort and is almost like applying/removing a car wax.
Wear latex gloves and have plenty of white rags. Let the final residue dry/haze before removing.

If you do decide to use the buffer, you may want to use a foam pad instead of the wool as its less aggressive..

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2017 12:11 pm
by Strake
TCSM,

Thanks..... I've already got the foam pads in just about every color..... perhaps I'll try using a white foam pad if hand application isn't to my liking.

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2017 8:48 pm
by Rick McC.
I applaud y'all working so hard at polishing those 'toons.

I can't say that I've ever seen anyone do that down here.

Mine stays in the fresh water year round, and is routinely used out in the salt water (Gulf of Mexico).

When the fresh water growth gets a bit much during the winter; I'll occasionally scrub the sides of the 'toons off with a soft car wash brush while in the shallows at an island in the Gulf.

That's as shiny as they get, and is more than a lot of folks do down here...

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 5:07 am
by TDJ2591
You should be able to find a number of older discussions on this forum about how to polish toons. If you Google it, you will also find quite a few links and there are a number of YouTube videos showing them or aluminum tanks being polished. I would love to do mine but it's not likely to happen. Too much work!

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 8:00 am
by tsmodie
I just used the Napa Aluminum Brightner spray it on and let it sit for 30 seconds and rinse it off it is amazing stuff below are pictures before and after using it it will lot polish them but brightens it up lotTim

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Wed May 17, 2017 8:54 am
by guy48065
That Napa stuff is unpredictable...it even changed the color of your panels and bimini covers!

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Fri May 19, 2017 1:11 pm
by tsmodie
LOL I only had pictures of the original, before we finished the rebuild,Tim

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Sat May 20, 2017 3:41 pm
by Strake
[quote="Bamaman"]

I use a Porter Cable dual action sander/polisher with a wool bonnet and White Diamond metal polish. It's plenty shiny, but not as shiny as rouge would produce. But the good news is I can do both toons, 3 nosecones and the rear caps in an hour with my D/A polisher..[/quote]

Bamaman.........

OK, You got me to bite........ I helped my lake buddy on HIS tri-toon this past week, as he needed it first, and I'll attempt ours late this fall.

We used the White Diamond polish on the Porter Cable machine with several foam pads...... as it took 4 hours for one outside toon, on the other side, we used an orbital sander first to help knock down the heavy stuff. Still spent another 4 hours on that toon too. We're NOT looking for mirror shine, just clean and shiny.

Haven't even gotten to the center nose cone toon......

We're committed to finishing this boat, but we're at least 8 hours in, with 2 of us working........ 16 man hours.... we must be doing something different than you were able to accomplish in an hour or so. I was the one to talked him into this saying it was a couple of hours total, with just the white Diamond.....

Not sure what path I'll take when it comes to cleaning our boat. Maybe I'll try the Zephyr polishing pads and rouge, or just the white diamond on the porter cable.

here's a couple of pics of what we've got so far.

PS........ I feel like this is a young man's game.

Richard

Re: Toon Scrub and Polish

Posted: Sat May 20, 2017 4:27 pm
by Bamaman
I can tell you guys really put the elbow grease into polishing that toon. It looks just great.

But I'm not looking for a mirror image--just a great shine for the amount of energy expended.

You can do the job with foam applicators, however they're really intended for polishing and waxing painted objects. Aluminum's finish is much tougher than a painted steel fender on a car.

The wool bonnet is the proper thing to use for metal polishes. It's also reusable time and time again after washing out.

Like I've said before, I put 2-3 dime size dollups of polish on the bonnet, place it on the metal finish and hit the switch--going up and down, back and forth for about 90 seconds. The black oxide paste suddenly dries up and mostly blows away in the wind. I wipe it down with dry towels.

If I was a glutton for punishment, I'd be using my high speed buffer and the edge of a cotton round pad with rouge to polish the toons--like they detail heavy truck fuel tanks. But I'm just not willing to work that hard to maintain that near mirror image.