Advice needed rubbing out paint 1985 alum starvraft

[appleo]

Neglected boat headed for restoration paint heavy white oxidized. Some blackish stains or maybe that is cracked paint. 400 grit wet dry sandpaper seems to be needed. Labor intensive. Anything I can use with buffer instead ? Sandpaper hard to avoid topping the river heads. Thanks

 

[64osby]

You can try buffing it out but you may find areas that are too far gone.

You mention a restoration. How much work is involved.

You may find it easier to scuff and apply new paint

 

[gm280]

If I were going to refinish most any boat and seriously wanted it to look really nice, I would certainly invest in the proper power tools to help with the hand work. Pneumatic tools or even electric powered tools can sand that hull out in record time. And yes those tools do cost, but compared to doing it all by hand, what is your labor worth? If you have no time constraints or like doing things via manual effort, then yes it can be prepped without tools and yield a very nice finish. YOU just have to decide if the hand labor is worth the price of power tools... JMHO!

 

[Watermann]

I would forgo all the sanding and that goop on the trailer tongue. Rather my advice is to opt for paint stripping all that old nasty off. Sanding around all the rivets is not an option in my book and then the paint won't stick to the old paint and start peeling. A fresh piece of aluminum to start with is way better in my experience. Way less work too.

So do you have there an SS or Holiday?