How to clean "water etching" off of toons

[wrd1972]

There is rough texturing or etching on my logs from the water level down from where it has sat in the water for extended periods of time. Now that it will be dry docked, I want to clean this off and have the toons look more uniform. The areas above the water line are very smooth with no real issue.

The aluminum surface is clearly rogh, raised and dull colored and it appears to me that it will need some sanding to smooth it out but I am not sure on how to best proceed. I really cant see how any polishing would work considering the roughness.

Ultimately I just want the toons to look the same simialr to original. I am not really going for mirror finished, just decent looking.
How should I proceed. Thanks.

[HandymanHerb]

Get out the sander and go to work, start at 180 grit and go up to 400 or higher if you can get, I finished with 400 grit then started with a fast cut cloth wheel and tripoli buffing compound, then the final buffing done with a loose wheel and more tripoli.

[Bamaman]

Your toon may indeed need sanding, but you should first try polishing the toons for an acceptable finish first. Sanding is a last resort.

If sanding is absolutely required, you should use progressively finer sandpaper until you switch over to a polish. The idea is to start with the minimum sandpaper that would do the job, and work up from there. In other words, I'd start with a higher number sandpaper and see if that smooths your toons. And I'd suggest using Meguiars or a 3-M (high quality) sandpaper, not the junk sandpaper available at Home Depot or Lowes.

You might consider joining one of the detailing websites and ask the same question on: http://www.autogeekonline.net/

Or you can read about aluminum polishing on: http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/se ... id=1235355

Autogeek and Meguiuars push Dual Action orbital polishers for both professional and non-professional polishing, as they won't get you in trouble like a high speed buffer and aggressive rouge's. They both sell all the supplies for polishing and waxing cars/boats/etc.

http://forums.iboats.com/Aluminum-Boats/Polishing has a number of blogs about aluminum polishing.

If you Google "aluminum polishing", you'll get back a bunch of places to read. There are a number of different approaches to your problem, and more than one way will work.

I've switched over to a Porter Cable D/A polisher, and a wool bonnet. It's a polishing machine--taking out much of the elbow grease.

[MH Hawker]

MY thought is this, if its only a 2008 and what ever water its sitting in is etching the toons you need bottom painting. Mine is a 1988 and has nothing like that., Snickers some green stuff growing if I don't run it ever week though but that brushes right off.

[wrd1972]

Well I got some 220 sanding disks and used an orbital sander on the worst of it which is on the inside of the tunes. Turned out simply wet sanding with the disks by hand did a much better and quicker job than the sander. After spending a generous time doing this on a section on the inside of one toon, I still could not really sand out the etching that was there. It does look better but I would not call it uniform.

The weird thing is that on the inside of the toons and the transom, it appears that there markings and etching that has the appearance of being brushed. These are the markings that are the most annoying but thankfully they dont really appear on the outsides of the toons. Looks like someone used something excessfully Strong to maybe clean them before I got it. The markings also have a black look to them.

I am still trying to decide if I want to tackle the outsides of the toons. Ultimately. I am not looking for a mirror finish, I would be happy with a shine like when it was new.

[RonKMiller]

Your toon may indeed need sanding, but you should first try polishing the toons for an acceptable finish first. Sanding is a last resort.

If sanding is absolutely required, you should use progressively finer sandpaper until you switch over to a polish. The idea is to start with the minimum sandpaper that would do the job, and work up from there. In other words, I'd start with a higher number sandpaper and see if that smooths your toons. And I'd suggest using Meguiars or a 3-M (high quality) sandpaper, not the junk sandpaper available at Home Depot or Lowes.

You might consider joining one of the detailing websites and ask the same question on: http://www.autogeekonline.net/

Or you can read about aluminum polishing on: http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/se ... id=1235355

Autogeek and Meguiuars push Dual Action orbital polishers for both professional and non-professional polishing, as they won't get you in trouble like a high speed buffer and aggressive rouge's. They both sell all the supplies for polishing and waxing cars/boats/etc.

http://forums.iboats.com/Aluminum-Boats/Polishing has a number of blogs about aluminum polishing.

If you Google "aluminum polishing", you'll get back a bunch of places to read. There are a number of different approaches to your problem, and more than one way will work.

I've switched over to a Porter Cable D/A polisher, and a wool bonnet. It's a polishing machine--taking out much of the elbow grease.

GREAT advice.

Wool bonnets rock. (and you can clean them and use them over and over again). 3M *Finishing* compound is absolutely amazing stuff for a final mirror like finish. I've used it on clear coat, soft Lexan polycarbonate, you name it. While I think McGuires is adequate - 3M brand - when applied correctly - still rules the roost. Period.

It is stupid expensive but well worth it!

(BTW, if your logs are REALLY etched hard you should just paint 'em. - but that's whole 'nuther thread.)