Question about aluminumn boats

[treepotato]

Hi everyone,
After reading about all the advantages and disadvantages of aluminumn on seekers thread a question popped in my head that I have been wondering about for some time now. I purchased a 93 bass tracker pro 17 last year and the previous owner took alot of pride in keeping the interior in excellent shape. The hull however is a different story. It had a really bad water line all the way around it . I purchased some aluminumn hull cleaner (acid) from BPS but wasn't pleased with the results I had with this product. I followed the directions closely but it left the metal with a white film on it and the next time out on the water the metal turned black! I next tried SOS pads (oh my poor elbows) and they cleaned the metal very well and then I applied some tutle wax to the clean metal hoping to repel grime for awhile but after the next trip I was back to square one. Am I fighting a losing battle with trying to keep the hull looking nice or am I totally missing something simple and making this harder than it has to be. Judging by some of the threads I have been reading here there are alot of folks out there who enjoy taking care of their outfits and keeping them looking nice. I would appreciate any ideas you might have ....thanks ..........treepotato

[labill]

treepotato......I've used a product that works very well, so far all I had to do was spray it on and hose it off. I broke the trigger on the bottle about halfway thru the contents and put the remainder in an empty Windex bottle....yeah, I threw the original away. I'm headed to Academy tomorrow to buy more, and I will post the brand name when I get back. All I remember is that "star" was in the name. Be careful with any acid cleaner, if it gets on a painted surface, like your outboard, you will have a spotted motor. Don't let any cleaner dry on the boat, hose it off as you work your way around. Letting it dry may be causing the problem you experienced, so watch that part carefully. Will post to you tomorrow.....

[Moose1am]

I used a phosphoric acid gell like substance that I got at the local Kuester Hardware store. It's the gel that helps it stay on the vertical surfaces of the side of my boat. I had to rub hard using a scotch brand hard plastic type scouring pad. One side of that pad seemed to work better than the other side. Maybe there was some kind of pumice embedded in the pad. But I did a small 2ft by 2ft section at one time. I applied the phosphoric acid gel to the boat with the spray bottle and or applied it to the pad and then srubbed the boat's vertical sides. I waited for a few minutes and then rinsed that section off thoroughly before going to the next section. I have only done this two or three times during the time I have had my boat. I just did this again about a month ago in late Sept 2004. I had the sides of my aluminum boat looking pretty good and shiney. But the very next time I went to Blue Grass Pit in the Blue Grass Fish and Wildlife Area the boat showed a black water line very clearly. I was very upset that I had spent about 4 hours cleaning the boat only to have it turn dark below the water line after only one fishing trip.

Now this didn't happen when I went to Patoka about 4 or 5 times and each time I spend about 4 to 6 hours in the water at Patoka Lake. There must be something in the stipper pit's water that reacts with the aluminum hull and turns it black. I am thinking that it's sulfates that are in the water and that maybe they are reacting with the aluminum creating aluminum sulfate. I was not that good at Chemistry so I could be off but it's my best guess at what the reaction is. I do know that there are a lot of sulfates in that type of water. I know that because I worked in a Water Quality Analytical Laboratory that did a lot of water testing on waters around this area. We tested the water for a lot of coal company's. We tested a lot of well water and suface water as well as drinking water supplies for various chemical parameters. We found chlorides and sulfates in a lot of the waters that we tested. And the pH of the water in these stripper pits is more on the Alkaline side than on the acidic side. There are a lot of chemcial ions in these waters as the water's conductivity is very high. Extreemly high and that tells me that there are a lot of differnet ions in the water.

The trick may be to start fishing in cleaner water after you get the boat's aluminum surfaces cleaned with the acid soln.

I know that I had to go over the area several times to get it clean. I bet that I went over the entire boat's sides about three times total the last time I cleaned it with the Phosporic acid. My arms got so tired I thought that they were going to fall off. I was sore for a couple days after that job.

Hi everyone,
After reading about all the advantages and disadvantages of aluminumn on seekers thread a question popped in my head that I have been wondering about for some time now. I purchased a 93 bass tracker pro 17 last year and the previous owner took alot of pride in keeping the interior in excellent shape. The hull however is a different story. It had a really bad water line all the way around it . I purchased some aluminumn hull cleaner (acid) from BPS but wasn't pleased with the results I had with this product. I followed the directions closely but it left the metal with a white film on it and the next time out on the water the metal turned black! I next tried SOS pads (oh my poor elbows) and they cleaned the metal very well and then I applied some tutle wax to the clean metal hoping to repel grime for awhile but after the next trip I was back to square one. Am I fighting a losing battle with trying to keep the hull looking nice or am I totally missing something simple and making this harder than it has to be. Judging by some of the threads I have been reading here there are alot of folks out there who enjoy taking care of their outfits and keeping them looking nice. I would appreciate any ideas you might have ....thanks ..........treepotato

[labill]

Bad news......Academy in Shreveport no longer has that product I mentioned yesterday. It too was an acid cleaner, and I can't understand why your boat got a black ring and mine didn't. I'll find the cleaner somewhere and get back to you......

[tarfu]

howdy; the white powder that you saw was aluminum's verion of rust. called aluminum oxide. you DO NOT want to use steelwool (brillo pads etc.) on aluminum as you will start what is called dissimular(spell check) metal corrosion. the black stuff that you keep scrubbing off is usually, not always (read the lable) a protective coating that prevents further corrision. the next step would be to apply a GOOD quality primer then paint it. the green scrubbie pad is technically called an aluminumoxide impregnated plastic woven pad unit of issue 1ea. yea i'm ex-navy. ran corrosion crews for about 13 years. F-14's,H-3's, H-60's, adonaddifinnium. you name it (almost) i've scrubbed'm buffed'm and painted them. if you want to really mak the paint job to last (unless you like to beach your boat alot) get some 2 part sealing compound like rtv and thin it so you can spray it. wait for the surface to blacken. dry compleatly wipe with a tack cloth, then spray on the sealent. follow with the primer. then the top coat. rembember that you always want to use the MILDEST method possible to remove the corrsion.
hope all that helps. hank

[Phantom309]

Go to nearest "Welding Supply Store", purchase/order "ALUMABRITE", is a mild etch/acid that is used for brightening aluminum. Is liquid as water, actually, dilute with water and wipe on, watch foam up, wash off, etc. (read directions). Lowe's, Home depot, might carry it. Then spray boat surface with
(can't remember what the name of it is) but, was a very light yellowish coating that permitted the paint to adhear to aluminum.
Check with any buisness that paints aluminum, etc, etc.
Tight lines !

[labill]

howdy; the white powder that you saw was aluminum's verion of rust. called aluminum oxide. you DO NOT want to use steelwool (brillo pads etc.) on aluminum as you will start what is called dissimular(spell check) metal corrosion. the black stuff that you keep scrubbing off is usually, not always (read the lable) a protective coating that prevents further corrision. the next step would be to apply a GOOD quality primer then paint it. the green scrubbie pad is technically called an aluminumoxide impregnated plastic woven pad unit of issue 1ea. yea i'm ex-navy. ran corrosion crews for about 13 years. F-14's,H-3's, H-60's, adonaddifinnium. you name it (almost) i've scrubbed'm buffed'm and painted them. if you want to really mak the paint job to last (unless you like to beach your boat alot) get some 2 part sealing compound like rtv and thin it so you can spray it. wait for the surface to blacken. dry compleatly wipe with a tack cloth, then spray on the sealent. follow with the primer. then the top coat. rembember that you always want to use the MILDEST method possible to remove the corrsion.
hope all that helps. hank

Hello, Hank..... Thanks for the heads up. I should have known that, I remember seeing the guys on the America,s corrosion control unit using their sand blaster and then painting spots with an aluminum primer (green) but can't remember what it is called.....was it zinc oxide? The difference between my boat and treepotato's and Moose's was that I have never used steel wool on mine, hence no corrosion. Good thinking, Hank....appreciate your expertise!

[Cane Pole]

I clean my pontoon boat spars with some stainless steel spray (used to clean 18 wheelers). Cleans the heck out of the spars, but I got overspray on the aluminum trim, and now it is white looking (looks like s***). What can I do to clean up the trim?

Cane Pole

[treepotato]

Thanks for all the help! I have a few ideas to try now . This site is great and all the helpful people here is what makes it that way . Good luck to you all ........treepotato

[tarfu]

Hello, Hank..... Thanks for the heads up. I should have known that, I remember seeing the guys on the America,s corrosion control unit using their sand blaster and then painting spots with an aluminum primer (green) but can't remember what it is called.....was it zinc oxide? The difference between my boat and treepotato's and Moose's was that I have never used steel wool on mine, hence no corrosion. Good thinking, Hank....appreciate your expertise!

howdy;

the primer we used backthen was zinc-chromate. since been banned. causes cancer. or emphysima or some other ungodly illiness. they use a 2-part epoxy primer that contains enough cyniad to only kill ya if you don't use the right resperator filters. any good quality primer will work (light colored for light top coats dark for dark). i have used Navel jelly for aluminum to clean some really eat-up parts. have to use ALOT of water to wash it off. it will darken the aluminum but that is a protective coating. we used to apply a pickiling solution to the bare metal that was Alodine1300 gave the metal a almost goldish tint. then sealer, primer, paint. the navel jelly you can get at most any hardware store. green scrubbie pads ,same. they are made by 3m, called scotchbrite. your ol'laidy probably uses them for scrubbing her pots and pans.and buys them in the cleaning products isle at wally-world.

well,that's all i got to say about that. hope it helps. ooops. almost forgot the stuff that they were using in the sandblaster was glass beads. about 220 grit. sand would have put holes in the thin skin of an aircraft. generaly the skin on most aircraft is only 0.032 to 0.040 of an inch. you look suprised. have a good weekend hank