Boat Polishing

[NightTrain]

I decided to polish up my jet boat, since it's finally spring and it needed it. Running around exclusively in glacial fed rivers leaves a residue, and of course the aluminum is constantly oxidizing.

I'm not finished with it, but should be today... or maybe tomorrow - I find myself getting OCD about a small area that's just not quite as shiny as another. This was a LOT more work than I had anticipated, and I learned much from this project.

2/3 of the way on the 1st pass :



Almost done on the 2nd pass :



Interestingly, contrary to every YouTube video that I watched, a buffer isn't what gets it to shine. I'm not using a buffing compound, simply a bottle of 'metal shine' that I bought at the State Fair a couple years ago. I just take a few drops of it on a rag, rub it on an area, let it sit, rub it again, let it dry and then wipe it off.

When it's finished, the boat should look brand new... it already looks 100% better. Once I'm done with the polishing, I'll put the canvas on her - don't want to get any chemicals on that.


Oh yeah, and yesterday we took her out on Lake Lucille for the annual "How ya feeling this year?" shakedown cruise. She's purring like a kitten at idle and roaring like a lion at WOT! We're going past Sarah Palin's house on the lake in this pic, btw.

[Voted4Reagan]

Where are the poles...If there are no poles on the boat it fails inspection

I will find some Poles for you....

[Voted4Reagan]

[NightTrain]

Where are the poles...If there are no poles on the boat it fails inspection

I will find some Poles for you....

Yeah, I agree. On the shakedown cruise there isn't anything in the boat except tools - my rod holders are mounted on the doghouse so every time I look at the engine as we're testing they'd be a pain in the ass. No fishing on the agenda, which is probably the only time that event occurs!


And your 2nd version of a Pole would look very nice in the boat, too.

[NightTrain]

Done with the right side, that's as far as I'm going to take this.

[Gunny]

Where are the poles...If there are no poles on the boat it fails inspection

I will find some Poles for you....

I'm wondering how he has the nerve to call that thing a boat.

[Elessar]

Whoa! Does not look like any Pole I ever owned!

[Gunny]

Yeah, I agree. On the shakedown cruise there isn't anything in the boat except tools - my rod holders are mounted on the doghouse so every time I look at the engine as we're testing they'd be a pain in the ass. No fishing on the agenda, which is probably the only time that event occurs!


And your 2nd version of a Pole would look very nice in the boat, too.

No fishing? You voting for Sanders or what, commie? And where the hell do ride around in that little bathtub toy anyway?

[Elessar]

Done with the right side, that's as far as I'm going to take this.

Aluminum hulls are a pain to maintain. You cannot really use too many harsh polishes on them because
they contain abrasives.

And trying to put a finishing coat of wax or sealer on is a slippery slope...once you start it,
you have to maintain it, just like painting one.

[Gunny]

Aluminum hulls are a pain to maintain. You cannot really use too many harsh polishes on them because
they contain abrasives.

And trying to put a finishing coat of wax or sealer on is a slippery slope...once you start it,
you have to maintain it, just like painting one.

Tell me he isn't just asking for it ... You got 2 coasties, a couple of squids and a jarhead on board here. I'd rather swim in deuce gear than hit 3 ft seas in that thing. Huckleberry's Finn's raft looks safer.

On the serious side (which is ruining my LMAO @NightTrain mood), elessar is right. Aluminum sucks on a boat. I would use Mother's Gold. Been using it since it came out in the 80s. It's not abrasive and provides a form of defense. The sun won't clock your boat out. If your driving that in sea or brackish water ... be like Jim and his snowblower ... plan on a new one.

[NightTrain]

No fishing? You voting for Sanders or what, commie? And where the hell do ride around in that little bathtub toy anyway?

Hey, 300 HP in an 18' boat is nothing to sniff at!

It's a riverboat, designed to extremely maneuverable and fast. I can run in 3 inches of water without hitting bottom, although the jet may suck a few pieces of gravel through at that depth & full throttle... she moves a lot of water through the jet unit at WOT.

You've seen pics of the cabin... this boat plays almost exclusively on the Talkeetna River.


I'm probably going to upgrade to a 22' Thunderjet with a 502 Chevy in a year or two, but those are spendy... so I'm saving my pennies. But I'll keep this one, just because it's amazing in the skinny water.

[Gunny]

Hey, 300 HP in an 18' boat is nothing to sniff at!

It's a riverboat, designed to extremely maneuverable and fast. I can run in 3 inches of water without hitting bottom, although the jet may suck a few pieces of gravel through at that depth & full throttle... she moves a lot of water through the jet unit at WOT.

You've seen pics of the cabin... this boat plays almost exclusively on the Talkeetna River.


I'm probably going to upgrade to a 22' Thunderjet with a 502 Chevy in a year or two, but those are spendy... so I'm saving my pennies. But I'll keep this one, just because it's amazing in the skinny water.

300 hp in an 18' boat? Did I forget to mention how brilliant you are?

And I'm just giving you shit because you're breathing. I have NO idea what it's like to run a boat up there. My experience with them was in S FL and S TX. You run an aluminum boat in either of those places plan on it disintegrating within 3 years from the salt.

Otherwise you weenie, I couldn't even stand up in that thing without capsizing it. Lifeboats are bigger than that puny thing.

[Elessar]

Tell me he isn't just asking for it ... You got 2 coasties, a couple of squids and a jarhead on board here. I'd rather swim in deuce gear than hit 3 ft seas in that thing. Huckleberry's Finn's raft looks safer.

On the serious side (which is ruining my LMAO @NightTrain mood), elessar is right. Aluminum sucks on a boat. I would use Mother's Gold. Been using it since it came out in the 80s. It's not abrasive and provides a form of defense. The sun won't clock your boat out. If your driving that in sea or brackish water ... be like Jim and his snowblower ... plan on a new one.

Our newer 47 ft Motor Lifeboats are aluminum hulled. The only painting is the CG Stripe.

The older and venerable 41 ft Utility boat was painted white, but the primer
coat used was found to be environmentally toxic..aluminum sulfate as I recall.

So the newer aluminum hulled boats are not painted.

[NightTrain]

Aluminum hulls are a pain to maintain. You cannot really use too many harsh polishes on them because
they contain abrasives.

And trying to put a finishing coat of wax or sealer on is a slippery slope...once you start it,
you have to maintain it, just like painting one.

Yeah, I'm not going to bother with waxing or sealing... I went overboard (!) on making it shiny, but once I started I couldn't help myself! Talk about a lot of work... whewwwww.

On the serious side (which is ruining my LMAO @NightTrain mood), elessar is right. Aluminum sucks on a boat. I would use Mother's Gold. Been using it since it came out in the 80s. It's not abrasive and provides a form of defense. The sun won't clock your boat out. If your driving that in sea or brackish water ... be like Jim and his snowblower ... plan on a new one.

The stuff I'm using is this :



I tried a few other products, like Brasso and aluminum wheel cleaner and about 4 other ones that didn't do the trick... it ended up cloudy or left a white residue on it. I wanted SHINY, dammit!

...should have just went with the spray bottle that left it powder-coat white and I would have been done in 10 minutes.

[Gunny]

Our newer 47 ft Motor Lifeboats are aluminum hulled. The only painting is the CG Stripe.

The older and venerable 41 ft Utility boat was painted white, but the primer
coat used was found to be environmentally toxic..aluminum sulfate as I recall.

So the newer aluminum hulled boats are not painted.

Y'all are spoiled. You get friggin' lifeboats. I get an LVT. You ever when stuck with 2 squads of jarheads and no breathing space? Crap. I wanted to hit the damned beach just to get away from f*ckers that never heard of Right Guard. Not to mention there's always that one MF-er that has gas.