Shinin' her up!

[katieclooney]

I am having the marina power wash her toons this season, as I didnt get a chance to do it last season.

What do you guys use you to shine them up once they have been washed?
I prefer to buy the stuff in a brick and mortar store vs online.

Shes a 30 year old boat so i dont know if that is going to affect what i use due to her age.


TYIA

[r&s20]

We use White Diamond aluminum polish available at advance auto parts.

[Cowracer]

When people ask me how I got the 'chrome' toons... My standard reply is:

"Equal parts hard work and stupidity."

Tim

[smoker62]

I did about half a toon with white diamond. It worked pretty well but dang its a mess. The black smear is a pain and I used thinner to clean it off. No matter how long I buffed it never dried up and blew away. I am going to go with the wheel and different rouge bars in the spring.

[REPETE]

When people ask me how I got the 'chrome' toons... My standard reply is:

"Equal parts hard work and stupidity."

Tim

I had a guy that owned a marina say the same thing to me. He said for the life of him he never got why some people were so obsessed with mirror quality pontoons. He said he never knew a boat dealer to give any consideration to how shiny toons were when looking at boat value.

I've seen more fcked up toons by people trying to clean them than anything. I stopped worrying about it years ago. Go have a beer and fish.

[Bamaman]

White Diamond metal polish is best applied with a wool bonnet on a dual action polisher--or with a high speed buffer with a wool bonnet. Put about 4 dime size dolups on the bonnet and go up and down, side to side on a 2' x 2' area. It's not something to do by hand.

In about a minute, the polish will dry up and all of a sudden the pontoon's shiny. Most of the polish will disappear in the form of a black powder, and you wipe the remainder of the polish/powder with a dry towel. No lacquer cleaner or other liquid is required.

This is a job I do in May or June. I've found it easier to just polish the boat once a year and much less labor intensive than just prepping the toons for Sharkhide.

[smoker62]

I used an orbital and a buffer but the pads turned to black slime right away. The black smear never went away. Maybe I used to much polish.

[Bryden24shp]

I used the Sharkhide polish I got from Clint. It worked great. Lots of laquer thinner to pull off the residue. I need to touch up a few spots after I winterize it in a few weeks.

[smoker62]

Yep same for me . Lots of Lacquer thinner to remove the black stuff. I would also recommend rubber gloves .

[Crab Island Cruiser]

I gave mine a run with a buffing wheel on my 4.5" DeWalt angle grinder. I used red and white clay bars. It worked and shined the shite out of the area I worked on, but man did it take forever and a day to do what little I did. I gave up and sprayed Alumibrite on the toons to take all the built up garbage on them. I'll get around to polishing them one day this winter when I don't have anything else to do.

[Bryden24shp]

I had 4 solid days into mine. Took a lot of work, but mine were in pretty rough shape to begin with. The previous owner used the pontoons as feelers for docking! The sides were scratched to Shiite!

[Bamaman]

I just polish the three nose cones, the rears and the sides on the toons. I've got it down to 90 minutes with my Porter Cable dual action polisher/sander.

I also have a high speed polisher like those used by pros to detail cars and trucks. It's much more physical to handle, but it does give a better shine. I still prefer the dual action polisher, however.

It would take quite a bit more work to polish the four inside toon surfaces, however nobody sees them. And I could use rouges and get a better mirror finish. But for the effort expended and time taken, my boat looks good enough.

[LittleRiver]

You guys got me interested so bought a high speed polishing whel from the truck stop and put it on the grinder.
Can see this is going to be a winter project. I'm thinking 3 to 4 days like someone mentioned but man stepping back and looking at the two differences is wild.

[Bryden24shp]

I thought about that! I'm looking at some on Ebay, right now! I'm going to remove the side skirts and rear ladder, this time. The first time was a "Just do it to be presenatable" job. Because the side were really messed up by the prev-owner. Abd the kids wanted a ride in the new one really bad. But it still turned out really good! Now it needs some touching up and a few new coats of Sharkhide. After we get this side panel mess up cleared up, I will get going on it.

[MH Hawker]

About all i do is pressure wash the green hair off of mine when I pull it off of the slip for the year, and yes if you let it sit that hardens up to concrete.