trying to clean alum boat ?

[venturenorth]

trying to clean 20 yrs of brown tannin stains off an aluminum rowboat.....

tried vinegar, and simple green.......not doing the job, works slowly and needed alot of elbow grease

next will try 50/50 muratic acid?

any ideas?

what about protecting stripped finish afterwards?

thanks

 

[mrbb]

angle grinder and a wire wheel get's my vote, I re did a old 1960's aluminum boat last summer, tried a bunch of so called chemicals and NONE did all that much without a TON of elbow grease and time,

I ended up, saying screw it, and did a wire wheel in an angle grinder and then painted the darn boat with some aluminum bottom boat paint(designed to be under water and NOT come off!,
worked for me!
paint was about a 100 bucks a gallon and I did 3 coats, seems to be holding up nicely, and is like a light grey silver color,
after some sitting on a pond, I pulled boat before winter and with a easy going power washer, it cleaned right up, paint stayed on, so, overall happy here?/


Have you tried a power washer with some GOOD PSI to it> I forgot to mention I got a bunch off mine at first, but it still had stains that wouldn't budget with chemicals!
thus the wire wheel deal!, and I used an actual wire wheel designed for a angle grinder, not then drill used one,'s there not rated for the RPM"s of a angle grinder, so be safe! wear safety glasses too if you do this and gloves!

 

[venturenorth]

grinder or wire brush too aggressive for my taste.........But I had good luck with aluminum cleaner/phosphoric acid solution and 400 grit sandpaper, and elbow grease,,,,, then a coat of car wax.........got almost all of the brown stains off, and looks much better....
thanks.....
now just need to find the fish !!!

 

[mrbb]

yeah the
wire wheel did leave a some what ruffed up finish, but honestly I wanted that, as I planned to paint it
I also think maybe one of the drill attached scotch bright pad's with a polish cleaner might same some elbow grease and not be as aggressive as a wire wheel was?

But again, I didn't care about things that much, just wanted all the old dry on scum removed to a clean base!

 

[Tracker]

I use this on everything...aluminum trailer..sled rails....spray on...rinse off...no scrubbing...and no scotch bite marks...welcome to the 21st century