Re: Aluminum Cleaner....Acid Wash ???????
My new pontoon boat started tarnishing the second it was new. My dealer kept it inside a dark warehouse for 6 weeks until I took delivery. By the end of the Summer (3 mos. old), my hull was pretty tarnished.
There is a difference between a tarnished aluminum and dirty aluminum. If you leave a boat in the water all Summer and the toons are green and grundgy, that's when you use an acid based aluminum boat cleaner. It's a spray on, wash off with water product, and it works. But it will leave a very dull finish--no shine.
But if you're just wanting to polish the toons, that's another matter. I researched aluminum polishing closely, and looked at a number of detailing blogs in online websites.
I purchased a Porter Cable 6" Dual Action (D/A) Polisher/Sander with a wool bonnet (applicator). Then, I went to Autozone and bought Mothers Aluminum polish. It was crap. I went to Advance and bought White Diamond Multipurpose Metal Polish and Sealant, the really good stuff.
You put 3 dime size squirts of polish on the bonnet, and put the bonnet on the toon before hitting the switch--polishing a 2' x 2' section. You go up and down, side to side. The liquids will disappear after 90 seconds and the rouge in the polish will work quick--and most of the black aluminum oxide will disappear into the air. You just wipe off the residual black from the toon, and it's polished.
This will give you an almost mirror image, and it's a great look. I could tell you other ways to get a complete mirror image, but such a finish would be impossible to maintain in a marine environment.
You could maintain the shine with Sharkhide, however the oxide has to be completely removed first. I found cleaning the toons with lacquer cleaner is much harder work than I'm willing to do. I'll just polishing the toons yearly with White Diamond. I understand that Sharkhide now has an aluminum polish, and I expect it's a good product.
