Cleaning pontoons. Tried everything pls help

[Coy6888]

I bought a 1987 sun tracker bass buggy that has been sitting in the water for years. The guy acted like he hadn’t taken out of water in 10 years lol. Needless to say that amount of buildup on it is bad and I have tried almost every trick, tip, home mixture and even the expensive stuff. Nothing comes close. I’m not expecting to shine and polish these things up so this 30 yr old pontoon looks new but just want to clean up a bit. I’ve also tried a 3,000 psi power washer. Only thing that has done any amount of damage is aluminum. Everyone kept tell me the works is great....didn’t touch it lol. Is sanding the only option left?

 

[Coy6888]

Aluminex was what somewhat worked. Also I just used a 3700 psi power washer very carefully. Still didn’t do anything. Had some luck wet sanding the thick stuff then using the works but at this rate it will take 20+ hours of labor to just get it looking ok.

 

[wrvond]

I've used The Works to clean a stainless steel prop that was so caked with growth it looked like aluminum. So if the Works toilet cleaner isn't doing it, sanding is your only option.
I wouldn't bother with wet sanding. Simply use a DA sander with #200 paper to start. Your aluminum may be as thick as 0.090 inch thick, so don't take a lot of metal off.

 

[shardy217]

Agree with WRVOND,

I used a series of sanding - 200g then 400g then 800g then buffed and polished. It will take a lot of man hours. Mine was around 40 hours for a 24’ boat but had more calcium buildup than that.

The other her thing to consider - the buildup occurs very quickly. Unless you’re willing to maintain this - wiping/cleaning your pontoons after every use - then all this work will be for nothing (I learned the hard way).

The other problem I had was after I cleaned all this calcium off - I found it was actually sealing a lot of pin holes. I had to get several (9+) pinholes welded. I’m going to leave the calcium now

 

[Scott Danforth]

Mix up oxalic acid into a paste..... Apply with a stiff bristle brush, keep moist via a spritz bottle

After about an hour, the goo should be coming off

 

[Coy6888]

Sorry I’ve been to busy to reply but thank you guys lots for all your suggestions. I found something that worked well. I used a orbital sander with 220 sandpaper to just get the thick outer layer off then tried the works again and it took sometime but it looks way better. Now just need to finish the insides and give it a decent polish and shine them up a little more. Thanks again for the info!

 

[Scott Danforth]

if you try to polish them, you will be re-polishing them every month or so.

 

[davidwjacob]

I always used alumibrite from NAPA. its 20.00 a gallon. you put it in a pump sprayer and spray it on, wait 5 mins and rinse it off. its unreal. here is a pic that shows my old pontoon, where i did the pontoon and didnt do the front yet



hereis the stuff
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/MCR1478

 

[strokendiesel002]