Question.... How Much Sharkhide do I need?

[Strake]

I posted yesterday onto an old thread, but didn't seem to get anyone's attention. Hopefully, some of you who have experience with this will be able to point me in the right direction.....

OK...... Looks like I'm next into the world of Sharkhide.....

Our 10 month old Tritoon (which is on a lift in a covered boat house) looks terrible. Heavy staining / oxidation down all sides of the toons. Getting almost black looking. I've bought 2 quarts of Toon Brite and have a brush, but didn't want to use it yet until I've got the Sharkhide here to seal it after it's clean.

I've also got my Porter Cable buffer here, but need to get some bonnets and polish/cleaner before I get started. I'm guessing a wool bonnet with alum polish would be better than my foam pads.

This afternoon, I spent one hour with a Scotch Brite pad and some Simple Green spray cleaner, hoping it would just come right off and be back to original Aluminum look..... No such luck. In the hour, I got one of the nose cones cleaned on the outside, and about another 2 feet of the outside of one of the toons. I'm going in just a back and forth motion with the Scotch Brite pad. Did pretty good, but it's a lot of work. I'm hoping the Tune Brite works much easier when I'm ready to use it.

QUESTIONS for the experts who have already gone down this path.....

Is 2 quarts of Tune Brite enough to do the 2 outside tunes, plus the nose cones of all 3 tunes and the ends of all 3 too?

HOW MUCH Sharkhide to I need to do this?

I ONLY plan on using the buffer if I have to to get an even look. I'm not looking for SHINY, REFLECTIVE aluminum, just clean, and even looking..... Then I'll seal it.

All help is greatly appreciated. I don't have a trailer, so I have to do this on our lift

My boat dealer, where we bought it said they would do the work for me, but we didn't get into talking a price yet. Have any of you paid to have the toons cleaned, and sealed AFTER the boat has seen a year's use or more?

thanks,

Richard

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[garygve]

You will need 2 quarts of sharkhide, I don't know about Toonbrite I polished mine and applied 2 coats to the outside of the of outside toons and the 3 nosecones.

[Strake]

You will need 2 quarts of sharkhide, I don't know about Toonbrite I polished mine and applied 2 coats to the outside of the of outside toons and the 3 nosecones.

Thank you for the reply ! Did you hand polish it, or use a buffer? I'm debating whether or not to use the Toon Brite, then go right to the shark hide, OR add the polishing step that looks SOOOOO good, but looks like a ton of hours.

[garygve]

I used a power buffer but its a lot of work and I would not do it again, you could get some 3M scotchbrite pads at a autobody supply store they come in different grits and that will clean them up with a decent silver look. You can start out with a course pad and work down to the fine pad, use water as your sanding with it. Once you get down to the fine pad you can walk along the pontoon from the front to back keeping pressure on the pad and then lower it and walk back to the front and keep repeating till it looks good that will help the sanded look without a lot of sanding overlap marks. Wash the surface with lacquer thinner till there is no more black stains on your paper towels and then wipe on 2 coats of Sharkhide, the only bad thing about Sharkhide is that it doesn't last below the waterline.

[Strake]

Thanks again!

I did start fooling with it the other day on the lift..... used the green, course Scotch Brite pad and Simple Green and kept dunking the pad in a bucket of water. Did a pretty fair job actually. I will stop by the auto supply store to see if I can get less course ones too.

The Toon Brite I bought but have not used yet, says Biodegradable, so I felt it would be OK to use, but when reading the fine print on the container, it says do NOT use near a lake, river, etc as it MAY kill fish...... great. I may stick to the Scotch Brite pads and Simple Green.

When you say that the Sharkhide doesn't last below the water line, are you meaning that for boat's that are left in a wet slip (in water) all the time, or do you mean for ANY boat ..... such as our's on a lift, or those that are trailered. We lift our boat back up out of the water after each use. It's in the water for usually 2 to 8 hours at any one time, max.

[Bryden24shp]

I bought 2 quarts and have done 3 tritoons. By doing the outside toons and all 3 nose cones. I still have 1/2 a quart left. A little goes a long way. Yep, like Gary said. Wash the surface with lacquer thinner until clean, if you polish them, otherwise the Shark Hide won't stick and makes them very blurry looking. Use long S strokes with a lint free cloth, overlappng the top coat by about 1/2 an inch. It goes on easy. If you mess up, just re-do that spot. If its still wet, it will dissolve the first coat as it goes on. Then let it cure overnight and do your 2nd. I put on 3 coats. And yes, whats under the water line comes off quickly. So does whats on the nosecones from beaching.

[Strake]

Well, I've cleaned ( by hand ) one outside toon. Total of 6 hours using Scotch Brite Gray and White pads and Simple Green. Looks great, but what a total pain in the butt..... I'm no kid anymore either.... nice satin silver finish with some minor scratches showing.

I bought 2 quarts of Toon Brite as it appears simple to use and pretty effective, thinking it would be safe to use, as it's Biodegradable...... I get the product and when reading the fine print, see the note "NOT to use it on a river, or lake as it MIGHT kill fish". I assume them mean even when dilated per the instructions. Since I don't own a trailer and only have use on our covered boat house lift, I didn't want to risk having an issue.

Guess I'm screwed and have to keep going by hand, unless a few of you have used Toon Brite diluted and not had any fish kill issues. I sure would prefer to just spray on the Tune Brite and rinse it off, especially on the stern area which I can't really get to that area very well by hand on the lift.

I did contact my boat dealer and am still awaiting a price for them to do it on land and put the Shark Hide on. I'll ping them again tomorrow.

At this point, I'm already a third of the way done with the cleaning as I was only doing the 3 nose cones and two outer toons and the stern area.

thanks for your suggestions and help.

Richard

[sunedog]

I sure would prefer to just spray on the Tune Brite and rinse it off, especially on the stern area which I can't really get to that area very well by hand on the lift.

I haven't used Toon Brite over water, so I can't answer your question there. But I do acid wash my toons every Fall on the trailer. I use a pump sprayer. If you do, make sure to apply the acid starting at the bottom and working your way up. If you start at the top, the liquid runs down and streaks the area below. Sometimes it's hard to get the streaks out.

[Strake]

I sure would prefer to just spray on the Tune Brite and rinse it off, especially on the stern area which I can't really get to that area very well by hand on the lift.

I haven't used Toon Brite over water, so I can't answer your question there. But I do acid wash my toons every Fall on the trailer. I use a pump sprayer. If you do, make sure to apply the acid starting at the bottom and working your way up. If you start at the top, the liquid runs down and streaks the area below. Sometimes it's hard to get the streaks out.

Thank you for the head's up..... I was aware of that and have seen a few You Tube Video's as well. Just don't want to create a eco problem here on the lift.