REFRESH THE BOAT: SAND it ????

[THEMOORINGMAN]

So my Edwing is done, the motors, electrical, welding this and that...... done. Very happy with it and it was flawless this season........ but I need a winter project.

I figure I'll try to "shine her up" so I bought aluminum cleaner, 3m super duty rubbing compound and sand paper, but I'm not sure this effort is worth doing. I did a test spot and buffed it to almost mirror like. Not the look I want. Plain ole sanding with 120 looked good. What did you guys do?

I don't want to 3m pad it and make all those circle patterns. I don't have that fancy water/sandblasting machine either......and the hull would be easy but don't forget I have a cabin with windows too.

[goatram]

320Grit 3m product 6" dia paper pad on a orbital air sander. Cleans it up and leaves a matte smooth as a baby's butt finish

[Chaps]

If you have an air orbital sander you can get really nice results with this stuff because it allows wet sanding which gives a brighter, more consistent finish, the paper lasts far longer and the residue flushes away while you work so you aren't grinding it back into the aluminum not to mention its faster than sanding dry.

Mirka wet/dry orbital sanding discs


.

[JETTYWOLF]

WHERE WERE YOU GUYS WHEN I ASKED

I did post after post, asking for advise.....

Mooringman,

Ya probably don't have Nyalic on your hull either. I did.

Manual Laborski, Palm sander, 3M Scotchbrite pads (green), gallon of Xylene, then a RE-finish via Sharkhide.

[BBvideo 560,340]http://youtu.be/YoBAsdJ-vfQ[/BBvideo]


JUST posted on a different forum here.

What I did is what ya do when CHAPS doesn't live in your town, I guess.

[THEMOORINGMAN]

Just put another 41 miles on the boat today....love it.

Sanding is the way to go for sure, glad you guys agree. Not sure I can do wet sanding this winter, I'll freeze!!

320, wow that's fine! I did 60 and 80 on the bottom and it looks great. Same with all the under deck areas. 320 must look very even to almost a shine....I'll give it a try to see the results.

[goatram]

Dave I was around. I know I PMed you a few times. Plus your a resourceful kind of a guy!!!!! Just saying

[Chaps]

WHERE WERE YOU GUYS WHEN I ASKED

I did post after post, asking for advise.....

Must be how you ask your questions Dave . . . one things for sure, your appearance standards are pretty high. Me thinks having all those flashy plastic boats around is giving you an inferiority complex and the answer to that is to just power polish your boat. Aluminum is soft and shines up nice and fast. Acid and coatings is for new builds, break out your 10" grinder, get some pads and polish going and in a few hours you'll be a bright beacon in that FL sunshine

[BBvideo 560,340]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyOodLNI4BQ[/BBvideo]

[Katoh]

Either a 5 or 6 inch grinder with a rubber Velcro wheel that uses Scotchbrite Velcro pads, the purple ones the green ones are harsh, I think the green ones are equivalent to 350 grit,works extremely well and fast, I used it for polishing the welds after cutting them back with a flap disk, but then I also painted my hull.
http://www.3m.com/product/information/S ... -Disc.html
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/e ... L3871F5Lbl
hope this helps.

[goatram]

WHERE WERE YOU GUYS WHEN I ASKED

I did post after post, asking for advise.....

Must be how you ask your questions Dave . . . one things for sure, your appearance standards are pretty high. Me thinks having all those flashy plastic boats around is giving you an inferiority complex and the answer to that is to just power polish your boat. Aluminum is soft and shines up nice and fast. Acid and coatings is for new builds, break out your 10" grinder, get some pads and polish going and in a few hours you'll be a bright beacon in that FL sunshine

[BBvideo 560,340]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyOodLNI4BQ[/BBvideo]

You will get a black face and your snot will be black as well. Wear a mask that polishing is tough on your body.

[kmorin]

Dave, nice vid but not the clearest conclusion. I recommend Zep because it's more concentrated which is why its a hazard to ship; but if you take Zep plus shipping and then four times the Sharkstuff, what's the result? Zep is what is used by those who do this regularly.

The streaks in your etch are due to the lack of concentration and the different levels of acid in the job, when you spray a dilute solution like you used, instead of the concentrated stuff Zep, then the acid reacts and becomes less active faster so you do the work several times, fine by me but to do it once- use Zep's acid mix. When that acid that is less concentrated reacts then runs down the difference in surface reaction shows.

You are correct when you say the a finer mist works better to the point where the best is to use a SS spray paint gun and low pressure to get a purely covering mist of concentrated acid and a purely white metal result.

Also, your lack of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is begging for problems, you need at minimum;
-BOTH, liner gloves of vinyl that resists acid, and then elbow length parts washer gloves,
-over your full oil skins/rain suit with boots and
-glasses and face shield and
-half face air purifying respirator using organic vapor charcoal filters and a good face seal- no beards.
But that's for the real McCoy - Zep and may not be as critical for weaker etching solutions like the Sharkstuff.

If you want the entire job less streaked mix the spray with warm, to nearly hot, water, but make sure you have on the air purifying respirator or you could be unhappy at heating the acid.

As to which grit to use to shine, the finer the grit the more the chrome look polished sheen. After all polishing compound is only very, very .... very fine grit; so fine it has to be held in paste or it would blow away -fine.

Aluminum will buff/polish to a shine with much less energy than harder metals but will always need a top coat to keep the shine long, as the shine is lost to newer oxide films that will dull the shine if left to air for year or so.

cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK

[JETTYWOLF]

Looks like this is a "combined" post on this forum.

Yes, Goat you did answer me. And I thank you as Kevin helped me out, also. I appreciate it all.
Too bad I'm in BFE when it comes to Aluminum boats.

Kevin you're so correct. I deluted and was sort of thinking that the whole time. About it not being strong enough.

I Never Ever have a time line to call my own. In today's smartphone world instantaneous gratification world, I'm under the gun. If I wanna make a living. So my side jobs get done quick. I can't dilly dally.

If I could plan, I would have got the Zep. NEXT TIME, I'm not farking around with any happy home maker bull crap. The Shark hide was on Ebay, I had Ebay bucks accumulated, and I sold 2 cameras And the Shark hide was 30 miles south of me and delivered ultra fast via UPS.

CHAPS, no not looking for the penis extender look or a gloss of any kind. To re-phrase the way Kevin understood what I was looking to do (sort of) I'm looking for a decent appearance. because I'm in the PUBLIC EYE. And the Nyalic coating was looking horrrible. So a change was needed.

People who have a CLUE ask me if I painted my boat. Because from 10 feet or more it looks damn good....

Clean, and sharp is what I was looking for. I sort of got it.

Next time, it's ZEP, and all the protection. Sharkhide ate my thin gloves. And yeah, my fingernails hurt afterwards. Guess that shows how weak a blend I ended up spreading around after 2 qts barely did 2 sides of the boat

[THEMOORINGMAN]

Good video, was the camera attached to your waiste?

I liked the "burn" you gave your alloy brothers.

If you polish your boat to a shine the amount of people asking "is that boat stainless steel" would drive me nuts. Do they ask u guys this? I get it all the time!!


I still like the dull even look best.

[capesteve]

So basically your choices are: 1. tolerate the boat's appearance gradually deteriorating over time and live with it 2. bust your but periodically (every few years or so?) to sand/acid wash/reseal the boat 3. pay someone else to do it (does anyone do this sort of work?). None of these options is particularly appealing..

[kmorin]

capesteve, is there any boat ever built that your Three Steps don't apply to?
Where step #2 may vary with the plastic/dead plants or 'black metal' boats, some, but don't they all have the same cycle?

Cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK

[JETTYWOLF]

Steve,

Nope...you can do ZERO, if you choose.

To re-interate one mo' time. THE NYALIC ON MY BOAT WAS ALL SCRATCHY LOOKING, BLOTCHY AND DIFFERENT COLORS.
I never used the first boat fender on some really shetty docks, for 7 straight years. I use my boat all the time. And decided I wanted a cleaner look.

That's all. You can do zero and be just fine I'm sure. Plus the level of care to the Pacifics nyalic coating depends on how bad you beat the hell out of it.

NYALIC on Pacific built boats DOES have a life span of some sort.

-------

Mooringman,

Yeah.....did ya feel that BURN too No, no camera's on my hip. It's called a BOOM or camera pole...DOH
Burn # 2 is "guess you missed this post" - viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5098
I do video. Photos are so 1990's

Shiney, never. At first the boat was shiney (see the pics of our newest Florida boat, 26 HT Pacific posted) that's S-H-I-N-E-Y

Yes, probably next year I'll strip the Sharkhide protectant off. Use Zep-a-lume and re-acid wash. Then recoat with Protectant. Just need to figure out where the hell I can walk in and buy a gallon of Zep at $28.00 and not get a dumb azz look from the person behind the counter.

It may just be like the Florida boat attitudes......Florida is just clueless and thinks God made F' glass to make boats.

-------------------------------------------------------
BTW

Just talked to the sales folk at ZEP chemical. You cannot buy Zep-a-lume without being CERTIFIED. Meaning go thru a rep. or authorized sales rep. give you training.

There is NO..repeat, NO way of walking up to a counter and buying it. LEGALLY

So that screws the pooch. Back to Sharkhide Full F'in Strength

[goatram]

Dave check with these Guys @ Anglers Avenue Marine Center

website http://www.auroramarine.com/aurora/cds/ ... =USA&City=
They got Alumabrite same stuff different name. It is what I use. I get it from My NAPA Store.

[THEMOORINGMAN]

After anyone refreshes their hull I run a sign shop and can make you new decals, Boat names and hail ports!!

[kmorin]

themooringman, does your equipment handle the full length 4'x26' panels we see on the sides of some boats in stead of paint? I always wondered what cost range those big sheets of high-res graphics were? I think one of the Australian boats in a post showed a huge fin fish, in shades of blue, the entire length of the boat - so either someone is pretty good with and airbrush or... they had a decal that fit the side?

Does your shop have a size limit? Is there a rule of thumb for costs? Like 50$ per square foot or something? Just curious about the entire process, design, art file types, materials, how well they 'stick' and what keeps them from fading in the sun, how much they cost, that sort of thing.

I'm willing to read the site if you have one, but don't think there's anything wrong with a few basics in this thread post?

I know what we'd have to pay to paint a boat here, (plural thousands US$) so if a couple of long decals were less, they'd be a potentially lower cost way to 'color' the boat?

cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK

[THEMOORINGMAN]

Hi,

No, those are called "wraps" and they're totally different. You could really spice up a boat with that machine!!!

From what I've seen they can conform to any contour and stick and hold up to the sun very well. They wrap cars so the heat given off by the metal isn't an issue.

There's a "fish the world" boat on Block Island that had it's hull wrapped and looks great! You should look into it.

I do not know the cost. Sorry.

http://graphin.com/Ideas/Index/#nogo